Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology
Endocrine Abstracts (2010) 22 P729

ECE2010 Poster Presentations Steroid metabolism & action (19 abstracts)

Testosterone levels in acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: relationship with severity indices

Antonio Mancini 1 , Riccardo Inchingolo 2 , Alessandro Di Marco Berardino 2 , Vincenzo Di Donna 1 , Erika Leone 1 , Giuseppe Maria Corbo 2 , Salvatore Valente 2 & Alfredo Pontecorvi 1


1Department of Internal Medicine, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy; 2Department of Respiratory Physiology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rome, Italy.


Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients could have altered endocrine function as different endocrine organs (gonads, pituitary, thyroid and pancreas) can be affected depending on the phenotype of the disease and the degree of systemic inflammation. Anabolic hormones can be involved as COPD patients can show weight loss and muscle wasting and both these conditions can modify natural history of the disease. Moreover COPD patients can frequently have acute exacerbations (AECOPD) which are considered risk factors for a worse quality life and mortality. The aim of our study is to investigate the association between anabolic hormones, like insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), testosterone and its metabolites with prognostic indices of AECOPD.

Twenty inpatients, aged 75±14 years, 15 males, hospitalised for acute exacerbation, were enrolled. The severity of clinical status was evaluated by acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II score. Hormones (IGF1, testosterone, diidrotestosterone, estradiol) were assayed by RIA. Steroid hormone binding globulin was also assayed to determinate free-testosterone (f-testosterone).

Mean IGF1 levels were normal (82±33 pg/ml), whereas both mean testosterone levels (1.6±1.7 ng/ml) and mean f-testosterone levels (0.02±0.01 ng/ml) were lower than normal values.

Patients with normal IGF1 values showed higher APACHE II then patients with low values (P=0.02). Patients with low testosterone values showed higher APACHE II then patients with normal values (P=0.03) and a linear inverse relationship was found between APACHE II and f-testosterone. Moreover in the multiple regression analysis adjusting for age and sex both testosterone and f-testosterone were directly associated to the ratio PaO2/FiO2 (P=0.02).

In conclusion, our data demonstrated that COPD patients with low levels of testosterone tended to have worse acute exacerbations with low values of PaO2.

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