Your lab report came back with a number next to a reference range, and now you are searching it at 1am. Type the number in below and see what the guideline actually says about it, including when one result is not enough to mean anything.
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The reader runs in your browser. Nothing you type is saved, sent or tracked. It reads a number against a published guideline; it is not a diagnosis and it is not medical advice.
The interactive reader needs JavaScript. The rules it uses are written out below.
How the testosterone reader works
The American Urological Association treats a total testosterone below 300 ng/dL as a reasonable cut-off supporting a diagnosis of low testosterone. Three conditions sit around that number:
- Two tests, not one. Diagnosis needs two separate total testosterone measurements, on different occasions.
- Both early in the morning. Testosterone peaks in the early morning and falls through the day, so an afternoon draw can put a normal man under 300.
- Plus symptoms. A number under 300 with no symptoms is not something the guideline says to treat.
If your lab reports in nmol/L, the reader converts it: 1 nmol/L is about 28.84 ng/dL, so 300 ng/dL is about 10.4 nmol/L. The full explanation, with sources, is in Is my testosterone actually low? and, if you are weighing treatment, what TRT does and does not fix.
How the semen analysis reader works
It compares each value with the World Health Organization’s 2021 lower reference limits. Those limits are the 5th percentile of men who got a partner pregnant within a year, so one in twenty fertile men falls below any given line.
| Parameter | WHO 2021 lower reference limit |
|---|---|
| Semen volume | 1.4 mL |
| Sperm concentration | 16 million per mL |
| Total sperm number | 39 million per ejaculate |
| Total motility | 42% |
| Progressive motility | 30% |
| Vitality | 54% |
| Normal forms (morphology) | 4% |
- One value just under a limit is a reason to repeat the test, not a diagnosis.
- A pattern carries weight: several values low together, a value far below its limit, or a result that stays low on a repeat sample.
- Repeat about three months later, after two to seven days without ejaculating. Shorter and volume drops; longer and motility does.
More detail, including what changed from the 2010 limits: What your semen analysis numbers mean.
Sources
- American Urological Association. Evaluation and Management of Testosterone Deficiency guideline.
- World Health Organization. WHO laboratory manual for the examination and processing of human semen, 6th edition (2021).
- Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust. Lower reference limits, WHO 2021.