Objective: To analyze the incidence of different types of Y chromosome microdeletions in infertile male patients in China, and to investigate the relationship between microdeletions in different azoospermia factor (AZF) regions and sperm kinetic parameters, sperm morphological parameters, and sex hormone levels.
Methods: A total of 2010 infertile male patients who visited the Fujian Provincial Maternity and Child Health Hospital from 2022 to 2025 were selected. Their Y chromosome microdeletions (YCMD), semen routine, sperm morphology, sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI), and sex hormone levels were detected, and the relationships between these parameters were analyzed.
Results: The incidence of Y chromosome microdeletions in patients was 8.66% (174/2010). Among the 174 patients with AZF microdeletions, the proportion of AZFc region deletions was 85.63% (149/174), AZFa region deletions accounted for 2.30% (4/174), AZFb/c region deletions accounted for 8.05% (14/174), AZFa/b/c region deletions accounted for 2.87% (5/174), and heterochromosome deletions accounted for 1.15% (2/174). There were no statistically significant differences in semen volume, testosterone (T), and prolactin (PRL) levels between patients with different types of AZF deletions and the normal group (P>0.05). There were statistically significant differences in sperm concentration, progressive motility (PR), non-progressive motility (NP), total sperm motility, normal sperm morphology rate, sperm DFI, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), and luteinizing hormone (LH) between patients with different types of AZF deletions and the normal group (P<0.05).
Conclusion: AZFc deletion is the most common type of Y chromosome microdeletion in infertile male patients in China. Patients with AZFa and AZFa/b/c combined deletions often present with azoospermia. AZFc deletion is associated with abnormal sperm quality parameters and disordered hormone levels.
Keywords: AZF region microdeletion; Y chromosome; sex hormone; sperm quality.
© 2025 Chen et al.