{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,18]],"date-time":"2026-08-18T04:13:19Z","timestamp":1787026399378,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,23]],"date-time":"2025-10-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1761177600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Endocrinol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>To explore the dual role of obesity and fat distribution on sperm dynamics and morphological parameters and to further assess the impact on male fertility.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A population of 823 male semen examinations from the Male Reproductive Health Database (FAST-Date, 2022-2025), was retrospectively analyzed for general information, obesity indicators, sperm dynamics and morphology parameter ratings, and male fertility assessment indicators.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      There were differences in sperm dynamics and sperm morphology parameters between the non-obesity and obesity group populations (\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      &amp;lt; 0.05), which were shown to be poorer in both sperm dynamics parameters in the obesity group population as compared to the non-obesity group population, and morphological parameters. There were differences in total sperm count, sperm concentration, sperm dynamics parameters and sperm morphology parameters among obesity subgroups, and central obesity showed that sperm dynamics and morphology parameters were better than those of generalized obesity and simple obesity groups. And obesity group had higher sperm DFI compared to non-obesity group (23.83 \u00b1 12.25 vs. 14.16 \u00b1 9.80), whereas there was no statistically significant difference in sperm DFI between obesity subgroups (\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.210). Multivariate regression analysis showed that PR was significantly negatively associated with the risk of male infertility (adjusted OR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.89-0.98;\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.004). hyperactivated spermatozoa revealed significant associations with the adverse pregnancy outcomes (adjusted OR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.87\u20131.00;\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.049). A significant direct effect of obesity on sperm DFI was observed (\u03b2= -9.67, 95% CI: -11.19~-8.15,\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      &amp;lt; 0.001), while DFI itself was a significant predictor of adverse pregnancy outcomes (\u03b2=-0.02, 95% CI: -0.04~-0.01,\n                      <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.029).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Obesity reduces sperm quality (sperm dynamics and morphological parameters), whereas central obesity outperforms generalized and simple obesity in some sperm dynamics and morphological parameters. This underscores the clinical importance of assessing fat distribution, not just overall obesity, in the evaluation of male reproductive health.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fendo.2025.1702791","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,23]],"date-time":"2025-10-23T04:13:06Z","timestamp":1761192786000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Beyond body mass index: the role of fat distribution in male sperm quality"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Dongsheng","family":"Ma","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mengru","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaoguang","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lizhen","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(25)00355-1","article-title":"Global, regional, and national prevalence of adult overweight and obesity, 1990-2021, with forecasts to 2050: a forecasting study for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021","volume":"405","year":"2025","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"53","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(21)00798-4","article-title":"Body-mass index and obesity in urban and rural China: findings from consecutive nationally representative surveys during 2004-18","volume":"398","author":"Wang","year":"2021","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"661","DOI":"10.1186\/s12889-019-7018-4","article-title":"Urban-rural-specific trend in prevalence of general and central obesity, and association with hypertension in Chinese adults, aged 18-65\u2009years","volume":"19","author":"Shen","year":"2019","journal-title":"BMC Public Health"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2458-13-327","article-title":"Increasing trends in central obesity among Chinese adults with normal body mass index, 1993-2009","volume":"13","author":"Du","year":"2013","journal-title":"BMC Public Health"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"16404","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-021-95777-y","article-title":"Secular trends in the prevalence of abdominal obesity among Chinese adults with normal weight, 1993-2015","volume":"11","author":"Sun","year":"2021","journal-title":"Sci Rep"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2","DOI":"10.1016\/j.clinbiochem.2018.03.012","article-title":"Fertility and infertility: Definition and epidemiology","volume":"62","author":"Vander Borght","year":"2018","journal-title":"Clin Biochem"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/humupd\/dmac035","article-title":"Temporal trends in sperm count: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis of samples collected globally in the 20th and 21st centuries","volume":"29","author":"Levine","year":"2023","journal-title":"Hum Reprod Update"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"997","DOI":"10.1111\/andr.13396","article-title":"Trend of change of sperm count and concentration over the last two decades: A systematic review and meta-regression analysis","volume":"11","author":"Cipriani","year":"2023","journal-title":"Andrology"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/humrep\/deab124","article-title":"Temporal trends in semen concentration and count among 327\u2013373 Chinese healthy men from 1981 to 2019: a systematic review","volume":"36","author":"Lv","year":"2021","journal-title":"Hum Reprod"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"296","DOI":"10.1097\/MOU.0000000000000745","article-title":"Reasons for worldwide decline in male fertility","volume":"30","author":"Mann","year":"2020","journal-title":"Curr Opin Urol"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/andr.13460","article-title":"Does an increase in adipose tissue \u2018weight\u2019 affect male fertility? 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