Endocrine Abstracts

Low endogenous testosterone levels in men have been associated with a more adverse cardiovascular disease risk factor profile including lower HDL-cholesterol and higher blood glucose levels, and increased risk of cardiovascular disease. However, it is uncertain whether low testosterone levels may precede disease onset, or are a result of preexisting disease. Prospective studies may help clarify this relationship.The EPIC Norfolk study reported that in 11...

Epidemiologic studies have associated low testosterone levels with increased cardiovascular mortality in men, the mechanism of which is unclear. However, low testosterone levels have been linked to the development of cardiovascular risk factors including metabolic syndrome, regardless of the definition employed. This relationship has been observed in epidemiologic studies of community-dwelling men as well as in men with prostate cancer treated with androgen-deprivation therapy...

Abstract unavailable....

Owing to the difficulties in proper diagnosis of male hypogonadism, there is an ongoing debate on treatment needs of these patients. The comparison of commonly quoted thresholds of serum total testosterone concentrations for considering testosterone replacement therapy surprisingly reveals different thresholds in different European countries. The lower limit of ‘normal’ serum testosterone is 10 nmol/l in Germany, 7.5 nmol/l in France, 7.5–8 nmol/l in the UK, and...