Endogenous testosterone and brachial artery endothelial function in middle-aged men with symptoms of late-onset hypogonadism

Figures & data

Table I.  Characteristics (mean and SD, or prevalence) of 83 aging men in the Turku Male Aging Study.

Study variable	Mean	SD
Age (years)	55.9	7.5
Body mass index (kg/m^2)	28.1	3.3
Testosterone (nmol/l)	13.2	6.5
Luteinizing hormone (U/l)	7.0	4.6
Total cholesterol (mmol/l)	6.13	1.18
HDL-cholesterol (mmol/l)	1.15	0.29
LDL-cholesterol (mmol/l) (N = 65)	3.64	0.97
Triglycerides (mmol/l)	3.00	2.01
Systolic blood pressure (mmHg)	145	19
Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg)	86	10
Mean intima-media thickness (mm)	0.77	0.15
Flow-mediated dilatation (%)	7.2	4.0
Nitrate-mediated dilatation (%)	19.5	6.8
Current smoking (%)	9.7
Brachial artery diameter (mm)	4.32	0.50
Alcohol consumption: at least once a week (%)	52.9
Alcohol consumption: never (%)	2.4
Cardiovascular disease (%)	19.3
Aging male symptoms-scale (score)	44.0	(range 25–78)

The diseases were based on previous diagnosis by a physician. LDL-cholesterol was determined from 65 men by Friedewald’s equation.

Figure 1.  Univariate correlates for flow-mediated dilatation (FMD), nitrate-mediated dilatation (NMD) and testosterone. Correlation coefficients are shown from the variables statistically significant (p < 0.05). BMI, body mass index; T, testosterone; HDL, HDL-cholesterol; LDL, LDL-cholesterol; TG, triglycerides; IMT, intima-media thickness; BD, brachial diameter; AC, alcohol consumption.

Table II.  Multivariate models of the relations between risk variables and brachial artery flow-mediated dilatation in 83 aging men in the Turku Male Aging Study.

Independent variables	β ± SE	p-value
Age (years)	0.02 ± 0.07	0.76
Body mass index (kg/m^2)	−0.02 ± 0.17	0.92
Testosterone (nmol/l)	−0.17 ± 0.07	0.0226
Luteinizing hormone (U/l)	−0.08 ± 0.11	0.44
Total cholesterol (mmol/l)	0.21 ± 0.40	0.59
HDL-cholesterol (mmol/l)	4.17 ± 1.89	0.0312
Triglycerides (mmol/l)	1.36 ± 0.95	0.16
Systolic blood pressure (mmHg)	−0.0003 ± 0.03	0.99
Carotid intima-media thickness (µm)	0.003 ± 0.004	0.46
Brachial artery diameter (mm)	−4.37 ± 0.98	<0.0001
Current smoking^#	−1.04 ± 1.49	0.49
Alcohol consumption*	−0.05 ± 0.28	0.86
Cardiovascular diseases^#	−1.08 ± 1.16	0.36
HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor medication	2.34 ± 1.91	0.23

^#0 = no /1 = yes; *category 1–8; 1 = no alcohol; 8 = daily drinking.

β-values are regression coefficients that indicate 1-unit change in flow-mediated dilatation or nitrate-mediated dilatation in relation for 1-unit change in the independent variables.