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Taken from WWW.pubmed.gov (testosterone studies)
J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2007 Oct 2 [Epub ahead of print]
Low Serum Testosterone and Mortality in Older Men.
Laughlin GA, Barrett-Connor E, Bergstrom J.
Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine University of California,
San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093.
Context: Declining testosterone levels in elderly men are thought to underlie many of the symptoms
and diseases of aging, however studies demonstrating associations of low testosterone with clinical
outcomes are few. Objective: To examine the association of endogenous testosterone levels with mortality
in older community-dwelling men.
Design, Setting, and Participants: Prospective population-based study of 794 men, aged 50 to 91
(median 73.6) years who had serum testosterone measurements at baseline (1984-87) and were followed
for mortality through July, 2004.
Main Outcome Measure: All cause mortality by serum testosterone level.
Results: During an average 11.8 year follow-up, 538 deaths occurred. Men whose total testosterone levels
were in the lowest quartile (<241 ng/dl) were 40% (HR=1.40; 95% CI, 1.14-1.71) more likely to die than
those with higher levels, independent of age, adiposity and lifestyle. Additional adjustment for health
status markers, lipids, lipoproteins, blood pressure, glycemia, adipocytokines and estradiol levels had
minimal effect on results. The low testosterone-mortality association was also independent of the metabolic
syndrome, diabetes and prevalent cardiovascular disease, but was attenuated by adjustment for IL-6 and CRP.
In cause-specific analyses, low testosterone predicted increased risk of cardiovascular
(HR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.02- 1.85) and respiratory disease (HR, 2.29; 95% CI, 1.25-4.20) mortality,
but was not significantly related to cancer death (HR, 1.34; 95% CI, 0.89, 2.00). Results were
similar for bioavailable testosterone.
Conclusions: Testosterone insufficiency in older men is associated with increased risk of death over the
following 20 years, independent of multiple risk factors and several pre-existing health conditions.
PMID: 17911176 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
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