Searchable abstracts of presentations at key conferences in endocrinology
Endocrine Abstracts (2012) 29 OC14.3

ICEECE2012 Oral Communications Male Reproduction (6 abstracts)

Comparison of serum testosterone and estradiol levels in 3174 European men as measured by a platform immunoassay and mass spectrometry; relevance for the diagnostics in aging men

I. Huhtaniemi 1 , A. Tajar 2 & F. Wu 2


1Imperial College London, London, UK; 2The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.


Testosterone (T) and estradiol (E2) are the two most important sex steroids in men and women, respectively, and their accurate determination in serum is of crucial importance in assessing gonadal function both in clinical management and research. The limitations of serum T and E2 measurements using non-extraction platform immunoassays (IA) are widely recognized. Switching to more specific mass spectrometry (MS)-based methods has been advocated but directly comparative data on the two methods are scarce. We compared here serum T and E2 measurements in a large sample of middle-aged/elderly men using a common platform IA and a gas chromatography (GC)-MS method, in order to assess their limitations and advantages, and to diagnose male hypogonadism, in subjects of the European Male Aging Study (n=3174; age 40–79 years). Peripheral serum T and E2 were analyzed using established commerical platform IAs (Roche Diagnostics E170) and in-house GC-MS methods. Over a broad concentration range, serum T levels measured by IA and MS showed high correlation (R=0.93, P<0.001), which was weaker in the hypogonadal range (<11 nmol/l; R=0.72, P<0.001). The IA/MS correlation was less robust for E2 levels (R=0.32, P<0.001, at E2<40.8 pmol/L, and R=0.74, P<0.001, at E2>40.8 pmol/L). Using MS as ‘gold standard’, IA ascertained low T compatible with hypogonadism (<11 nmol/L) with 75% sensitivity and 96.3% specificity. The same parameters with IA for detection of low E2 (<40.7 pmol/L) were 13.3% and 99.3%, and for high E2 (>120 pmol/L) 88.4% and 88.6%. In conclusion, validated platform IA is sufficient to detect subnormal T levels in the diagnosis of male hypogonadism. The IA used for E2 measurements showed poor correlation with MS and may only be suitable for the detection of high E2 in men.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This work was supported, however funding details are unavailable.

Volume 29

15th International & 14th European Congress of Endocrinology

European Society of Endocrinology 

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