Increased occurrence of marked elevations of lipoprotein(a) in ageing, hypercholesterolaemic men with low testosterone

Abstract

Objective. We previously examined the inverse relationship between total serum testosterone (T) and the occurrence of the metabolic syndrome in ageing men using baseline data from two lipid treatment studies. We further examined baseline data from a subset of US men participating in one of these two studies to assess the relationship between T and the cardiovascular risk factor lipid, lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)].

Methods. Baseline T, lipid, glycaemic and anthropometric data were obtained from 107 men (mean age: 55 years). Inclusion criteria included low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ≥3.4–4.9 mmol/l and triglycerides ≤4.0 mmol/l. Baseline Lp(a) levels were examined across the following baseline T subgroups: <15 nmol/l (low/low-normal T) and ≥15 nmol/l (normal T).

Results. There was an overall trend for a higher incidence of clinically significant Lp(a) elevations in men with low T; 17.1% of men in the low/low-normal T subgroup had an Lp(a) level ≥3 times the upper limit of normal compared to 8.1% in the normal T subgroup.

Conclusions. The data from this descriptive analysis suggest that ageing men with low serum T levels may have an increase in marked elevations in Lp(a), which would be expected to be associated with a significant increase in their cardiovascular event risk.

Keywords:

• Hypogonadism
• testosterone
• lipoprotein(a)
• ageing men

Declaration of interest: Dr. Kaplan has been an investigator in studies funded by Merck & Co., Inc. Drs. Johnson-Levonas, Shah, Meehan, and Mr. Lin are employees of and hold stock in Merck & Co., Inc. This study was funded by Merck & Co., Inc. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.