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Nathan Goodyear

Testosterone and glucose metabolism in men: current concepts and controversies - 0 views

  • Around 50% of ageing, obese men presenting to the diabetes clinic have lowered testosterone levels relative to reference ranges based on healthy young men
  • The absence of high-level evidence in this area is illustrated by the Endocrine Society testosterone therapy in men with androgen deficiency clinical practice guidelines (Bhasin et al. 2010), which are appropriate for, but not specific to men with metabolic disorders. All 32 recommendations made in these guidelines are based on either very low or low quality evidence.
  • A key concept relates to making a distinction between replacement and pharmacological testosterone therapy
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  • The presence of symptoms was more closely linked to increasing age than to testosterone levels
  • Findings similar to type 2 diabetes were reported for men with the metabolic syndrome, which were associated with reductions in total testosterone of −2.2 nmol/l (95% CI −2.41 to 1.94) and in free testosterone
  • low testosterone is more predictive of the metabolic syndrome in lean men
  • Cross-sectional studies uniformly show that 30–50% of men with type 2 diabetes have lowered circulating testosterone levels, relative to references based on healthy young men
  • In a recent cross-sectional study of 240 middle-aged men (mean age 54 years) with either type 2 diabetes, type 1 diabetes or without diabetes (Ng Tang Fui et al. 2013b), increasing BMI and age were dominant drivers of low total and free testosterone respectively.
  • both diabetes and the metabolic syndrome are associated with a modest reduction in testosterone, in magnitude comparable with the effect of 10 years of ageing
  • In a cross-sectional study of 490 men with type 2 diabetes, there was a strong independent association of low testosterone with anaemia
  • In men, low testosterone is a marker of poor health, and may improve our ability to predict risk
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      probably the most important point made in this article
  • low testosterone identifies men with an adverse metabolic phenotype
  • Diabetic men with low testosterone are significantly more likely to be obese or insulin resistant
  • increased inflammation, evidenced by higher CRP levels
  • Bioavailable but not free testosterone was independently predictive of mortality
  • It remains possible that low testosterone is a consequence of insulin resistance, or simply a biomarker, co-existing because of in-common risk factors.
  • In prospective studies, reviewed in detail elsewhere (Grossmann et al. 2010) the inverse association of low testosterone with metabolic syndrome or diabetes is less consistent for free testosterone compared with total testosterone
  • In a study from the Framingham cohort, SHBG but not testosterone was prospectively and independently associated with incident metabolic syndrome
  • low SHBG (Ding et al. 2009) but not testosterone (Haring et al. 2013) with an increased risk of future diabetes
  • In cross-sectional studies of men with (Grossmann et al. 2008) and without (Bonnet et al. 2013) diabetes, SHBG but not testosterone was inversely associated with worse glycaemic control
  • SHBG may have biological actions beyond serving as a carrier protein for and regulator of circulating sex steroids
  • In men with diabetes, free testosterone, if measured by gold standard equilibrium dialysis (Dhindsa et al. 2004), is reduced
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      expensive, laborious process filled with variables
  • Low free testosterone remains inversely associated with insulin resistance, independent of SHBG (Grossmann et al. 2008). This suggests that the low testosterone–dysglycaemia association is not solely a consequence of low SHBG.
  • Experimental evidence reviewed below suggests that visceral adipose tissue is an important intermediate (rather than a confounder) in the inverse association of testosterone with insulin resistance and metabolic disorders.
  • testosterone promotes the commitment of pluripotent stem cells into the myogenic lineage and inhibits their differentiation into adipocytes
  • testosterone regulates the metabolic functions of mature adipocytes (Xu et al. 1991, Marin et al. 1995) and myocytes (Pitteloud et al. 2005) in ways that reduce insulin resistance.
  • Pre-clinical evidence (reviewed in Rao et al. (2013)) suggests that at the cellular level, testosterone may improve glucose metabolism by modulating the expression of the glucose-transported Glut4 and the insulin receptor, as well as by regulating key enzymes involved in glycolysis.
  • More recently testosterone has been shown to protect murine pancreatic β cells against glucotoxicity-induced apoptosis
  • Interestingly, a reciprocal feedback also appears to exist, given that not only chronic (Cameron et al. 1990, Allan 2013) but also, as shown more recently (Iranmanesh et al. 2012, Caronia et al. 2013), acute hyperglycaemia can lower testosterone levels.
  • There is also evidence that testosterone regulates insulin sensitivity directly and acutely
  • In men with prostate cancer commencing androgen deprivation therapy, both total as well as, although not in all studies (Smith 2004), visceral fat mass increases (Hamilton et al. 2011) within 3 months
  • More prolonged (>12 months) androgen deprivation therapy has been associated with increased risk of diabetes in several large observational registry studies
  • Testosterone has also been shown to reduce the concentration of pro-inflammatory cytokines in some, but not all studies, reviewed recently in Kelly & Jones (2013). It is not know whether this effect is independent of testosterone-induced changes in body composition.
  • the observations discussed in this section suggest that it is the decrease in testosterone that causes insulin resistance and diabetes. One important caveat remains: the strongest evidence that low testosterone is the cause rather than consequence of insulin resistance comes from men with prostate cancer (Grossmann & Zajac 2011a) or biochemical castration, and from mice lacking the androgen receptor.
  • Several large prospective studies have shown that weight gain or development of type 2 diabetes is major drivers of the age-related decline in testosterone levels
  • there is increasing evidence that healthy ageing by itself is generally not associated with marked reductions in testosterone
  • Circulating testosterone, on an average 30%, is lower in obese compared with lean men
  • increased visceral fat is an important component in the association of low testosterone and insulin resistance
  • The vast majority of men with metabolic disorders have functional gonadal axis suppression with modest reductions in testosterone levels
  • obesity is a dominant risk factor
  • men with Klinefelter syndrome have an increased risk of metabolic disorders. Interestingly, greater body fat mass is already present before puberty
  • Only 5% of men with type 2 diabetes have elevated LH levels
  • inhibition of the gonadal axis predominantly takes place in the hypothalamus, especially with more severe obesity
  • Metabolic factors, such as leptin, insulin (via deficiency or resistance) and ghrelin are believed to act at the ventromedial and arcuate nuclei of the hypothalamus to inhibit gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GNRH) secretion from GNRH neurons situated in the preoptic area
  • kisspeptin has emerged as one of the most potent secretagogues of GNRH release
  • hypothesis that obesity-mediated inhibition of kisspeptin signalling contributes to the suppression of the HPT axis, infusion of a bioactive kisspeptin fragment has been recently shown to robustly increase LH pulsatility, LH levels and circulating testosterone in hypotestosteronaemic men with type 2 diabetes
  • A smaller study with a similar experimental design found that acute testosterone withdrawal reduced insulin sensitivity independent of body weight, whereas oestradiol withdrawal had no effects
  • suppression of the diabesity-associated HPT axis is functional, and may hence be reversible
  • Obesity and dysglycaemia and associated comorbidities such as obstructive sleep apnoea (Hoyos et al. 2012b) are important contributors to the suppression of the HPT axis
  • weight gain and development of diabetes accelerate the age-related decline in testosterone
  • Modifiable risk factors such as obesity and co-morbidities are more strongly associated with a decline in circulating testosterone levels than age alone
  • 55% of symptomatic androgen deficiency reverted to a normal testosterone or an asymptomatic state after 8-year follow-up, suggesting that androgen deficiency is not a stable state
  • Weight loss can reactivate the hypothalamic–pituitary–testicular axis
  • Leptin treatment resolves hypogonadism in leptin-deficient men
  • The hypothalamic–pituitary–testicular axis remains responsive to treatment with aromatase inhibitors or selective oestrogen receptor modulators in obese men
  • Kisspeptin treatment increases LH secretion, pulse frequency and circulating testosterone levels in hypotestosteronaemic men with type 2 diabetes
  • change in BMI was associated with the change in testosterone (Corona et al. 2013a,b).
  • weight loss can lead to genuine reactivation of the gonadal axis by reversal of obesity-associated hypothalamic suppression
  • There is pre-clinical and observational evidence that chronic hyperglycaemia can inhibit the HPT axis
  • in men who improved their glycaemic control over time, testosterone levels increased. By contrast, in those men in whom glycaemic control worsened, testosterone decreased
  • testosterone levels should be measured after successful weight loss to identify men with an insufficient rise in their testosterone levels. Such men may have HPT axis pathology unrelated to their obesity, which will require appropriate evaluation and management.
  •  
    Article discusses the expanding evidence of low T and Metabolic syndrome.
Nathan Goodyear

Testosterone level in men with type 2 diabetes mellitus and related metabolic... - 0 views

  • defined by consistent symptoms and signs of androgen deficiency, and an unequivocally low serum testosterone level
  • the threshold serum testosterone level below which adverse clinical outcomes occur in the general population is not known
  • most population-based studies use the serum testosterone level corresponding to the lower limit, quoted from 8.7 to 12.7 nmol/L, of the normal range for young Caucasian men as the threshold
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      this equals 251 to 366 in serum Total Testosterone
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  • Researchers tried to examine whether serum total or free testosterone would be a better/more reliable choice when studying the effect of testosterone. The results were mixed. Some reported significant associations of both serum total and free testosterone level with clinical parameters25, whereas others reported that only serum free testosterone26 or only serum total testosterone6 showed significant associations.
  • −0.124 nmol/L/year in serum total testosterone
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      this equates to a 4 ng/dl decline annually in total Testosterone.
  • In experimental studies, androgen receptor knockout mice developed significant insulin resistance rapidly
  • In mouse models, testosterone promoted differentiation of pluripotent stem cells to the myogenic lineage
  • testosterone decreased insulin resistance by enhancing catecholamine induced lipolysis in vitro, and reducing lipoprotein lipase activity and triglyceride uptake in human abdominal tissue in vivo
  • by promoting lipolysis and myogenesis, testosterone might lead to improved insulin resistance
  • testosterone regulated skeletal muscle genes involved in glucose metabolism that led to decreased systemic insulin resistance
  • In the liver, hepatic androgen receptor signaling inhibited development of insulin resistance in mice
  • independent and inverse association of testosterone with hepatic steatosis shown in a cross-sectional study carried out in humans
  • In short, androgen improves insulin resistance by changing body composition and reducing body fat.
  • Although a low serum testosterone level could contribute to the development of obesity and type 2 diabetes through changes in body composition, obesity might also alter the metabolism of testosterone
  • In obese men, the peripheral conversion from testosterone to estrogen could attenuate the amplitude of luteinizing hormone pulses and centrally inhibit testosterone production
  • leptin, an adipokine, has been shown to be inversely correlated with serum testosterone level in men
  • Leydig cells expressed leptin receptors and leptin has been shown to inhibit testosterone secretion, suggesting a role of obesity and leptin in the pathogenesis of low testosterone
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      So what is "unequivocal"?
  • Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) cohort made up of 3,565 middle-class, mostly Caucasian men from the USA, the incidence of low serum total testosterone increased from approximately 20% of men aged over 60 years, 30% over 70 years, to 50% over 80 years-of-age
  • 30–44% sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG)-bound testosterone and 54–68% albumin-bound testosterone
  • As the binding of testosterone to albumin is non-specific and therefore not tight, the sum of free and albumin-bound testosterone is named bioavailable testosterone, which reflects the hormone available at the cellular level
  • Serum total testosterone is composed of 0.5–3.0% of free testosterone unbound to plasma proteins
  • alterations in SHBG concentration might affect total serum testosterone level without altering free or bioavailable testosterone
  • listed in Table​T
  • A significant, independent and longitudinal effect of age on testosterone has been observed with an average change of −0.124 nmol/L/year in serum total testosterone28. The same trend has been shown in Europe and Australia
  • Asian men residing in HK and Japan, but not those living in the USA, had 20% higher serum total testosterone than in Caucasians living in the USA, as shown in a large multinational observational prospective cohort of the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study
  • subjects with chronic diseases consistently had a 10–15% lower level compared with age-matched healthy subjects
  • In Caucasians, the mean serum total testosterone level for men in large epidemiological studies has been reported to range from 15.1 to 16.6 nmol/L
  • Asians, higher values, ranging from 18.1 to 19.1 nmol/L, were seen in Korea and Japan
  • Chinese middle-aged men reported a similar mean serum testosterone level of 17.1 nmol/L in 179 men who had a family history of type 2 diabetes and 17.8 nmol/L in 128 men who had no family history of type 2 diabetes
  • The reduction of total testosterone was 0.4% per year in both groups
  • HK involving a cohort of 1,489 community-dwelling men with a mean age of 72 years, a mean serum total testosterone of 19.0 nmol/L was reported
  • pro-inflammatory factors, such as tumor necrosis factor-α in the testes, could locally inhibit testosterone biosynthesis in Leydig cells47, and testosterone treatment in men was shown to reduce the level of tumor necrosis factor-α
  • In Asians, a genetic deletion polymorphism of uridine diphosphate-glucuronosyltransferase UGT2B17 was associated with reduced androgen glucuronidation. This resulted in higher level of active androgen in Asians as compared to Caucasians, as Caucasians' androgen would be glucuronidated into inactive forms faster.
  • Compared with Caucasians, the frequency of this deletion polymorphism of UGT2B17 was 22-fold higher in Asian subjects
  • Other researchers have suggested that environmental, but not genetic, factors influenced serum total testosterone
  • The basal and ligand-induced activity of the AR is inversely associated with the length of the CAG repeat chain
  • In the European Male Aging Study, increased estrogen/androgen ratio in association with longer AR CAG repeat was observed
  • a smaller number of AR CAG repeat had been shown to be associated with benign prostate hypertrophy and faster prostate growth during testosterone treatment
  • In India, men with CAG ≤19 had increased risk of prostate cancer
  • the odds of having a short CAG repeat (≤17) were substantially higher in patients with lymph node-positive prostate cancer than in those with lymph node-negative disease or in the general population
  • assessing the polymorphism at the AR level could be a potential tool towards individualized assessment and treatment of hypogonadism.
  • In elderly men, there was reduced testicular response to gonadotropins with suppressed and altered pulsatility of the hypothalamic pulse generator
  • a significant, independent and longitudinal effect of age on serum total testosterone level had been observed
  • A significant graded inverse association between serum testosterone level and insulin levels independent of age has also been reported in Caucasian men
  • Low testosterone is commonly associated with a high prevalence of MES
  • most studies showed that changes in serum testosterone level led to changes in body composition, insulin resistance and the presence of MES, the reverse might also be possible
  • MES predicted a 2.6-fold increased risk of development of low serum testosterone level independent of age, smoking and other potential confounders
  • Other prospective studies have shown that development of MES accelerated the age-related decline in serum testosterone level
  • In men with type 2 diabetes, changes in serum testosterone level over time correlated inversely with changes in insulin resistance
  • weight loss by either diet control or bariatric surgery led to a substantial increase in total testosterone, especially in morbidly obese men, and the rise in serum testosterone level was proportional to the amount of weight lost
  • To date, published clinical trials are small, of short duration and often used pharmacological, not physiological, doses of testosterone
  • In the population-based Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study cohort from Sweden, men in the highest quartile of serum testosterone level had the lowest risk of cardiovascular events compared with men in the other three quartiles (hazard ratio [HR] 0.70
  • low serum total testosterone was associated with a significant fourfold higher risk of cardiovascular events when comparing men from the lowest testosterone tertile with those in the highest tertile
  • Shores et al. were the first to report that low serum testosterone level, including both serum total and free testosterone, was associated with increased mortality
  • low serum total testosterone predicted increased risk of cardiovascular mortality with a HR of 1.38
  • low serum total testosterone increased all-cause (HR 1.35, 95% CI 1.13–1.62, P < 0.001) and cardiovascular mortality (HR 1.25
  • European Association for the Study of Diabetes 2013 suggested there was an inverse relationship between serum testosterone level and acute myocardial infarction
  • Diabetic men in the highest quartile of serum total testosterone had a significantly reduced risk of acute MI when compared with those in the lower quartiles
  • serum total testosterone level in the middle two quartiles at baseline predicted reduced incidence of death compared with having the highest and lowest levels
  •  
    Nice review of Testosterone levels and some of the evidence linking Diabetes with low T.  However, the conclusion by the authors regarding what is causing the low T in men with Diabetes is baffling.  The literature does not point to one cause, it is clearly multifactorial--obesity, inflammation, high aromatase activity...I would suggest the authors continue their readings in the manner.
Nathan Goodyear

Lowered testosterone in male obesity: Mechanisms, morbidity and management Tang Fui MN,... - 0 views

  • The number of overweight people is expected to increase from 937 million in 2005 to 1.35 billion in 2030
  • Similarly the number of obese people is projected to increase from 396 million in 2005 to 573 million in 2030
  • By 2030, China alone is predicted to have more overweight men and women than the traditional market economies combined
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  • diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase 2 (DGAT2), mechanistically implicated in this differential storage, [10] is regulated by dihydrotestosterone, [11] suggesting a potential role for androgens to influence the genetic predisposition to either the MHO or MONW phenotype.
  • bariatric surgery achieves 10%-30% long-term weight loss in controlled studies
  • The fact that obese men have lower testosterone compared to lean men has been recognized for more than 30 years
  • Reductions in testosterone levels correlate with the severity of obesity and men
  • epidemiological data suggest that the single most powerful predictor of low testosterone is obesity, and that obesity is a major contributor of the age-associated decline in testosterone levels.
  • healthy ageing by itself is uncommonly associated with marked reductions in testosterone levels
  • obesity blunts this LH rise, obesity leads to hypothalamic-pituitary suppression irrespective of age which cannot be compensated for by physiological mechanisms
  • Reductions in total testosterone levels are largely a consequence of reductions in sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) due to obesity-associated hyperinsulinemia
  • although controversial, measurement of free testosterone levels may provide a more accurate assessment of androgen status than the (usually preferred) measurement of total testosterone in situations where SHBG levels are outside the reference range
  • SHBG increases with age
  • marked obesity however is associated with an unequivocal reduction of free testosterone levels, where LH and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels are usually low or inappropriately normal, suggesting that the dominant suppression occurs at the hypothalamic-pituitary level
  • adipose tissue, especially when in the inflamed, insulin-resistant state, expresses aromatase which converts testosterone to estradiol (E 2 ). Adipose E 2 in turn may feedback negatively to decrease pituitary gonadotropin secretion
  • diabetic obesity is associated with decreases in circulatory E 2
  • In addition to E 2 , increased visceral fat also releases increased amounts of pro-inflammatory cytokines, insulin and leptin; all of which may inhibit the activity of the HPT axis at multiple levels
  • In the prospective Massachusetts Male Aging Study (MMAS), moving from a non-obese to an obese state resulted in a decline of testosterone levels
  • weight loss, whether by diet or surgery, increases testosterone levels proportional to the amount of weight lost
  • fat is androgen-responsive
  • low testosterone may augment the effects of a hypercaloric diet
  • In human male ex vivo adipose tissue, testosterone decreased adipocyte differentiation by 50%.
  • Testosterone enhances catecholamine-induced lipolysis in vitro and reduces lipoprotein lipase activity and triglyceride uptake in human abdominal adipose tissue in vivo
  • in men with prostate cancer receiving 12 months of androgen deprivation therapy, fat mass increased by 3.4 kg and abdominal VAT by 22%, with the majority of these changes established within 6 months
  • severe sex steroid deficiency can increase fat mass rapidly
  • bidirectional relationship between testosterone and obesity
  • increasing body fat suppresses the HPT axis by multiple mechanisms [30] via increased secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, insulin resistance and diabetes; [19],[44] while on the other hand low testosterone promotes further accumulation of total and visceral fat mass, thereby exacerbating the gonadotropin inhibition
  • androgens may play a more significant role in VAT than SAT
  • men undergoing androgen depletion for prostate cancer show more marked increases in visceral compared to subcutaneous fat following treatment
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Interesting: low T increases VAT, yet T therapy does not reduce VAT, yet T therapy reduces SAT.
  • irisin, derived from muscle, induces brown fat-like properties in rodent white fat
  • androgens can act via the PPARg-pathway [37] which is implicated in the differentiation of precursor fat cells to the energy-consuming phenotype
  • low testosterone may compound the effect of increasing fat mass by making it more difficult for obese men to lose weight via exercise
  • pro-inflammatory cytokines released by adipose tissue may contribute to loss of muscle mass and function, leading to inactivity and further weight gain in a vicious cycle
  • Sarcopenic obesity, a phenotype recapitulated in men receiving ADT for prostate cancer, [55] may not only be associated with functional limitations, but also aggravate the metabolic risks of obesity;
  • observational evidence associating higher endogenous testosterone with reduced loss of muscle mass and crude measures of muscle function in men losing weight
  • genuine reactivation of the HPT axis in obese men requires more substantial weight-loss
  • A number of intervention studies have confirmed that both diet- and surgically-induced weight losses are associated with increased testosterone, with the rise in testosterone generally proportional to the amount of weight lost
  • men, regardless of obesity level, can benefit from the effect of weight loss.
  • inconsistent effect of testosterone on VAT
  •  
    to be read
Nathan Goodyear

Testosterone and glucose metabolism in men: current concepts and controversies - 0 views

    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      80% of E2 production in men, that will cause low T in men, comes from SQ adiposity.  This leads to increase in visceral adiposity.
  • Only 5% of men with type 2 diabetes have elevated LH levels (Dhindsa et al. 2004, 2011). This is consistent with recent findings that the inhibition of the gonadal axis predominantly takes place in the hypothalamus, especially with more severe obesity
  • Metabolic factors, such as leptin, insulin (via deficiency or resistance) and ghrelin are believed to act at the ventromedial and arcuate nuclei of the hypothalamus to inhibit gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GNRH) secretion
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  • kisspeptin has emerged as one of the most potent secretagogues of GNRH release
  • Consistent with the hypothesis that obesity-mediated inhibition of kisspeptin signalling contributes to the suppression of the HPT axis, infusion of a bioactive kisspeptin fragment has been recently shown to robustly increase LH pulsatility, LH levels and circulating testosterone in hypotestosteronaemic men with type 2 diabetes
  • Figure 4
  • Interestingly, a recent 16-week study of experimentally induced hypogonadism in healthy men with graded testosterone add-back either with or without concomitant aromatase inhibitor treatment has in fact suggested that low oestradiol (but not low testosterone) may be responsible for the hypogonadism-associated increase in total body and intra-abdominal fat mass
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      This does not fit with the research on receptors, specifically estrogen receptors.  These studies that the authors are referencing are looking at "circulating" levels, not tissue levels.
  • A smaller study with a similar experimental design found that acute testosterone withdrawal reduced insulin sensitivity independent of body weight, whereas oestradiol withdrawal had no effects
  • Obesity and dysglycaemia and associated comorbidities such as obstructive sleep apnoea (Hoyos et al. 2012b) are important contributors to the suppression of the HPT axis
  • This is supported by observational studies showing that weight gain and development of diabetes accelerate the age-related decline in testosterone
  • Weight loss can reactivate the hypothalamic–pituitary–testicular axis
  • The hypothalamic–pituitary–testicular axis remains responsive to treatment with aromatase inhibitors or selective oestrogen receptor modulators in obese men
  • Kisspeptin treatment increases LH secretion, pulse frequency and circulating testosterone levels in hypotestosteronaemic men with type 2 diabetes
  • Several observational and randomised studies reviewed in Grossmann (2011) have shown that weight loss, whether by diet or surgery, leads to substantial increases in testosterone, especially in morbidly obese men
  • This suggests that weight loss can lead to genuine reactivation of the gonadal axis by reversal of obesity-associated hypothalamic suppression
  • There is pre-clinical and observational evidence that chronic hyperglycaemia can inhibit the HPT axis
  • in those men in whom glycaemic control worsened, testosterone decreased
  • successful weight loss combined with optimisation of glycaemic control may be sufficient to normalise circulating testosterone levels in the majority of such men
  • weight loss, optimisation of diabetic control and assiduous care of comorbidities should remain the first-line approach.
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      This obviously goes against marketing-based medicine
  • In part, the discrepant results may be due to the fact men in the Vigen cohort (Vigen et al. 2013) had a higher burden of comorbidities. Given that one (Basaria et al. 2010), but not all (Srinivas-Shankar et al. 2010), RCTs in men with a similarly high burden of comorbidities reported an increase in cardiovascular events in men randomised to testosterone treatment (see section on Testosterone therapy: potential risks below) (Basaria et al. 2010), testosterone should be used with caution in frail men with multiple comorbidities
  • The retrospective, non-randomised and non-blinded design of these studies (Shores et al. 2012, Muraleedharan et al. 2013, Vigen et al. 2013) leaves open the possibility for residual confounding and multiple other sources of bias. These have been elegantly summarised by Wu (2012).
  • Effects of testosterone therapy on body composition were metabolically favourable with modest decreases in fat mass and increases in lean body mass
  • This suggests that testosterone has limited effects on glucose metabolism in relatively healthy men with only mildly reduced testosterone.
  • it is conceivable that testosterone treatment may have more significant effects on glucose metabolism in uncontrolled diabetes, akin to what has generally been shown for conventional anti-diabetic medications.
  • the evidence from controlled studies show that testosterone therapy consistently reduces fat mass and increases lean body mass, but inconsistently decreases insulin resistance.
  • Interestingly, testosterone therapy does not consistently improve glucose metabolism despite a reduction in fat mass and an increase in lean mass
  • the majority of RCTs (recently reviewed in Ng Tang Fui et al. (2013a)) showed that testosterone therapy does not reduce visceral fat
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      visceral and abdominal adiposity are biologically different and thus the risks associated with the two are different.
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      yet low T is associated with an increase in visceral adiposity--confusing!
  • testosterone therapy decreases SHBG
  • testosterone is inversely associated with total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglyceride (Tg) levels, but positively associated with HDL cholesterol levels, even if adjusted for confounders
  • Although observational studies show a consistent association of low testosterone with adverse lipid profiles, whether testosterone therapy exerts beneficial effects on lipid profiles is less clear
  • Whereas testosterone-induced decreases in total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and Lpa are expected to reduce cardiovascular risk, testosterone also decreases the levels of the cardio-protective HDL cholesterol. Therefore, the net effect of testosterone therapy on cardiovascular risk remains uncertain.
  • data have not shown evidence that testosterone causes prostate cancer, or that it makes subclinical prostate cancer grow
  • compared with otherwise healthy young men with organic androgen deficiency, there may be increased risks in older, obese men because of comorbidities and of decreased testosterone clearance
  • recent evidence that fat accumulation may be oestradiol-, rather than testosterone-dependent
Nathan Goodyear

Testosterone Deficiency, Cardiac Health, and Older Men - 0 views

  • Studies have shown pharmacological doses of testosterone to relax coronary arteries when injected intraluminally [39] and to produce modest but consistent improvement in exercise-induced angina and reverse associated ECG changes [40]. The mechanism of action is via blockade of calcium channels with effect of similar magnitude to nifedipine
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      This directly refutes the recent studies (3) that Testosterone therapy increases cardiovascular events.
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      Testosterone acts as a calcium channel blocker inducing vasodilation.
  • men with chronic stable angina pectoris, the ischaemic threshold increased after 4 weeks of TRT and a recent study demonstrates improvement continuing beyond 12 months [
  • Exercise capacity in men with chronic heart failure increased after 12 weeks
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  • Studies have shown an inverse relationship between serum testosterone and fasting blood glucose and insulin levels
  • Medications such as chronic analgesics, anticonvulsants, 5ARIs, and androgen ablation therapy are associated with increased risk of testosterone deficiency and insulin resistance
  • Women with T2D or metabolic syndrome characteristically have low SHBG and high free testosterone
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      This stands in polar opposite of that with men.
  • Hypogonadism is a common feature of the metabolic syndrome
  • The precise interaction between insulin resistance, visceral adiposity, and hypogonadism is, as yet, unclear but the important mechanisms are through increased aromatase production, raised leptin levels, and increase in inflammatory kinins
  • levels of testosterone are reduced in proportion to degree of obesity
  • Men should be encouraged to combine aerobic exercise with strength training. As muscle increases, glucose will be burned more efficiently and insulin levels will fall. A minimum of 30 minutes exercise three times weekly should be advised
  • Testosterone increases levels of fast-twitch muscle fibres
  • By increasing testosterone, levels of type 2 fibres increase and glucose burning improves
  • Weight loss will increase levels of testosterone
  • studies now clearly show that low testosterone leads to visceral obesity and metabolic syndrome and is also a consequence of obesity
  • In the case of MMAS [43], a baseline total testosterone of less than 10.4 nmol/L was associated with a greater than 4-fold incidence of type 2 diabetes over the next 9 years
  • There is high level evidence that TRT improves insulin resistance
  • Low testosterone predicts increased mortality and testosterone therapy improves survival in 587 men with type 2 diabetes
  • A similar retrospective US study involved 1031 men with 372 on TRT. The cumulative mortality was 21% in the untreated group versus 10% ( ) in the treated group with the greatest effect in younger men and those with type 2 diabetes
  • the presence of ED has been shown to be an independent risk factor, particularly in hypogonadal men, increasing the risk of cardiac events by over 50%
  • A recent online publication on ischaemic heart disease mortality in men concluded optimal androgen levels are a biomarker for survival
  • inverse associations between low TT or FT (Table 2) and the severity of CAD
  • A recent 10 year study from Western Australia involving 3690 men followed up from 2001–2010 concluded that TT and FT levels in the normal range were associated with decreased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, for the first time suggesting that both low and DHT are associated with all-cause mortality and higher levels of DHT reduced cardiovascular risk
  • TDS is associated with increased cardiovascular and all-cause mortality
  • The effect of treatment with TRT reduced the mortality rate of treated cohort (8.4%) to that of the eugonadal group whereas the mortality for the untreated remained high at 19.2%
  • hypogonadal men had slightly increased triglycerides and HDL
  • Men with angiographically proven CAD (coronary artery disease) have significantly lower testosterone levels [29] compared to controls ( ) and there was a significant inverse relationship between the degree of CAD and TT (total testosterone) levels
  • TRT has also been shown to reduce fibrinogen to levels similar to fibrates
  • men treated with long acting testosterone showed highly significant reductions in TC, LDL, and triglycerides with increase in HDL, associated with significant reduction in weight, BMI, and visceral fat
  • Low androgen levels are associated with an increase in inflammatory markers
  • In the Moscow study, C-reactive protein was reduced by TRT at 30 weeks versus placebo
  • In some studies, a decline in diastolic blood pressure has been observed, after 3–9 months [24, 26] and in systolic blood pressure
  • A decline was noted in IL6 and TNF-alpha
  • No studies to date show an increase in LUTS/BPH symptoms with higher serum testosterone levels
  • TRT has been shown to upregulate PDE5 [65] and enhance the effect of PDE5Is (now an accepted therapy for both ED and LUTS), it no longer seems logical to advice avoidance of TRT in men with mild to moderate BPH.
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      What about just starting with normalization of Testosterone levels first.
  • Several meta-analyses have failed to show a link between TRT and development of prostate cancer [66] but some studies have shown a tendency for more aggressive prostate cancer in men with low testosterone
    • Nathan Goodyear
       
      And if one would have looked at their estrogen levels, I guarantee they would have been found to be elevated.
  • low bioavailable testosterone and high SHBG were associated with a 4.9- and 3.2-fold risk of positive biopsy
  • Current EAU, ISSAM, and BSSM guidance [1, 2] is that there is “no evidence TRT is associated with increased risk of prostate cancer or activation of subclinical cancer.”
  • Men with prostate cancer, treated with androgen deprivation, develop an increase of fat mass with an altered lipid profile
  • Erectile dysfunction is an established marker for future cardiovascular risk and the major presenting symptom leading to a diagnosis of low testosterone
Nathan Goodyear

Testosterone and metabolic syndrome Cunningham GR - Asian J Androl - 0 views

  • The relationship of low testosterone to MetS often is considered to be bidirectional; however, the relationships probably are not direct
  • Many of the components of the MetS are recognized risk factors for the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD)
  • Multiple cross-sectional studies have found low TT and low sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) levels in Caucasian and African-American men with the MetS, irrespective of age
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  • Low TT and SHBG levels also are prevalent in Chinese [7],[8] and Korean [9] men with the MetS
  • Normally 40%-50% of TT is bound to SHBG, so reducing SHBG levels will decrease TT.
  • Hyperinsulinism suppresses SHBG synthesis and secretion by the liver
  • significant increase in SHBG levels occurred after acutely lowering insulin levels in obese men
  • Estradiol levels are increased in men with the MetS, and they are positively correlated with the number of abnormal components of the MetS.
  • Although it is known that estrogen will increase SHBG levels, apparently the hyperinsulinism associated with obesity has a greater effect on SHBG levels
  • Estradiol also can inhibit luteinizing hormone (LH) secretion
  • Inflammatory cytokines are thought to have a direct effect on the pituitary to reduce LH secretion [15] and also a direct effect on Leydig cell secretion of testosterone
  • Low TT Levels have been shown to predict development of the MetS in men with normal BMI
  • Men in the lowest quartiles of serum TT, calculated free testosterone (cFT) and SHBG at baseline had the highest odds ratios for developing the MetS or DM during the 11 years follow-up
  • More recently, investigators conducting population-based studies have reported that only SHBG is associated with future development of the MetS
  • Additional evidence that low TT increases the risk of MetS comes from androgen deprivation treatment of prostate cancer
  • Low TT and low bioavailable testosterone (bT) were each significantly associated with elevated 20 years risk of CVD mortality in an older population in which cause-specific mortality was age, adiposity, and lifestyle-adjusted.
  • combination of low bT and ATP III-defined MetS is associated with increased cardiovascular mortality in men aged 40 years and above
  • in elderly men, testosterone may weakly protect against CVD. Alternatively, low TT may indicate poor general health
  • Muraleedharan and Jones [27] concluded that there is convincing evidence that low T is a biomarker for disease severity and mortality.
  • The evidence that TRT improves insulin sensitivity and glucose control is conflicted
  • It is widely recognized that testosterone treatment can reduce fat mass and increase lean body mass; however, until recently most reports have not been associated with much weight loss
  • Changes in body composition and weight loss are considered potential mechanisms by which testosterone treatment improves insulin sensitivity and glucose control in patients with diabetes. Effects on inflammatory cytokines [38] and changes in oxidative metabolism [39] also have been reported to improve glucose metabolism.
  • Testosterone replacement therapy has been reported to improve some or all of the components of the MetS.
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    To be read article on Testosterone and Metabolic Syndrome.
Nathan Goodyear

Testosterone levels improve in obese men following a common weight-loss operation: Slee... - 0 views

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    The ignorance of this authors statements is unmeasurable.  Numerous other studies have shown weight loss in men with obesity is associated with increased Testosterone production.  My book highlights the mechanism by which adipose tissue decreased Testosterone production.  The author was quoted as pointed to no Testosterone replacement (even if levels are low????) despite the evidence that Testosterone will improve glucose metabolism, build muscle (reverse sarcopenia obesity), improve cholesterol metabolism,  and significantly aid Diabetes control just to name a few; yet the author says, give surgery instead.  I am sure the author is a surgeon and thus bias might, just might, be present.
Nathan Goodyear

Testosterone replacement therapy improves insulin resistance, glycaemic control, viscer... - 1 views

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    Testosterone therapy shown to improve insulin resistance, glucose control, hyperlipidemia, and aids weight loss in men with type II diabetes
Nathan Goodyear

Testosterone replacement therapy improves insulin resistance, glycaemic control, viscer... - 0 views

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    3 months of IM Testosterone found to improve glycemic control, improved insulin sensitivity, improved cholesterol, and aided weight loss in men with low T and type II diabetes.
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