Korean J Urol.  2010 Mar;51(3):208-211.

Is the Index Finger and Ring Finger Ratio (2D:4D) Reliable Predictor of Semen Quality?

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Urology, College of Medicine, Chosun University, Gwangju, Korea. urojr@chosun.ac.kr
  • 2Department of Rehabilitation, College of Medicine, Chosun University, Gwangju, Korea.

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this paper is to test the validity of hypothesis that the index finger and ring finger ratio (2D:4D) is related with men's semen quality. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We set two groups of healthy young male student (mean age 23.9) who have different 2D:4D ratio from different departments of Chosun University. One group consists of 26 men whose 2D:4D ratio is higher than 1 (mean 1.06), and the other group consists of 33 men whose 2D:4D ratio is lower than 1 (mean 0.94). Their semen was collected by masturbation and examined. RESULTS: A comparative analysis revealed that there is no relation between semen quality and the 2D:4D ratio. The group of 2D:4D> or =1 showed a semen volume of 3.66+/-1.64 ml, on the other hand, the group of 2D:4D<1 showed a semen volume of 3.73+/-1.40 ml. No statistical correlation was found (p=0.82). The view of sperm count and motile sperm in single ejaculated semen also showed no statistically significance with 2D:4D ratio (p=0.84, p=0.43, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The 2D:4D ratio has no statistically significant correlation with the semen quality of health young male. Thus, measurements of finger length cannot be a reliable indicator of semen quality and testicular function.

Keyword

Fingers; Semen analysis

MeSH Terms

Fingers
Hand
Humans
Male
Masturbation
Semen
Semen Analysis
Sperm Count
Spermatozoa

Figure

  • FIG. 1 The scatter plot shows that there was no correlation between finger ratio and the semen quality-semen volume, sperm count and motile sperm. If the dots in scatter plot are gathered to the median transverse curved line, the data has statistically significant more.


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