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Taken from WWW.pubmed.gov (testosterone studies)
Eur J Endocrinol. 2007 Jun;156(6):687-93.
Endogenous sex hormone levels in postmenopausal women undergoing carotid artery endarterectomy.
Debing E, Peeters E, Duquet W, Poppe K, Velkeniers B, Van den Brande P.
Department of Vascular Surgery, Academic Hospital, Free University of Brussels, Belgium. erik.debing@az.vub.ac.be
OBJECTIVE: To study the endogenous sex hormone levels in natural postmenopausal women and their association with the presence
of internal carotid artery (ICA) atherosclerosis.
DESIGN: Case-control study
METHODS: We compared 56 patients with severe ICA atherosclerosis referred for carotid artery endarterectomy (CEA) with
56 age-matched control subjects free of severe atherosclerotic disease. The presence of atherosclerosis was determined by
high-resolution B-mode ultrasound. Metabolic parameters and sex hormones were measured or calculated: total cholesterol,
high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, triglycerides, glucose, insulin, quantitative insulin sensitivity check
index, insulin resistance index, IGF-I, DHEA, DHEA sulfate (DHEA-S), free testosterone, total testosterone, estrone, estradiol,
androstenedione, and sex hormone-binding globulin.
RESULTS: The cases had statistically significant lower levels of both total testosterone
(0.23 +/- 0.12 vs 0.31 +/- 0.20 mug/l, P = 0.043) and free testosterone (3.42 +/- 1.94 vs 4.59 +/- 2.97 ng/l, P = 0.009)
and significantly lower levels of androstenedione (625.3 +/- 168.7 vs 697.0 +/- 211.9 ng/l, P = 0.017) when compared with
controls. Multivariate linear regression analysis, adjusted for traditional cardiovascular risk factors, baseline and physiologic
characteristics, showed a significant inverse relationship between both serum free testosterone (beta = -0.234, P = 0.028) and
androstenedione (beta = -0.241, P = 0.028) levels with the presence of severe atherosclerosis of ICA.
CONCLUSIONS: The study provides evidence of a positive association between low serum androgen levels and severe ICA
atherosclerosis in postmenopausal women. It suggests that higher, but physiological, levels of androgens in postmenopausal
women have a protective role in the development of atherosclerosis of ICA.
PMID: 17535869 [PubMed - in process]
Dr. Gordon: Another in a series of studies that show that low testosterone levels in postmenopausal women promotes clogging of the arteries, and that
normalizing those levels with replacement therapy would likely prevent clogging.
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