Plasma testosterone is associated with Framingham risk score

Figures & data

Table I.  Summary statistics of demographic and laboratory data.

	Number of values	Mean	Standard deviation	Median	Min	Max
Age (years)	1,479	61.27	11.98	61	22	96
BMI	1,475	28.83	5.30	28.21	12.45	60.55
Total testosterone (nmol/L)	1,479	12.98	8	11.98	0.35	115.2
Free testosterone (pmol/L)	703	29.43	17.45	27.41	1.73	183.91
Total cholesterol (mmol/L)	1,479	4.86	1.03	4.77	0.49	10.54
HDL (mmol/L)	1,479	1.15	0.36	1.09	0.39	3.42
LDL (mmol/L)	1,475	3	0.89	2.95	0.52	8.44
Triglycerides (mmol/L)	1,476	1.57	1.07	1.29	0.15	10.25
Systolic blood pressure (mm Hg)	1,479	131.75	17.93	131	84	238
Blood pressure medications	1,479	0.99	1.17	1	0	6

Table II.  Proportion of population with certain characteristics.

	Proportion % (no.)
Current smoker	24.5 (362/1,479)
Non-smoker	75.5 (1,117/1,479)
On testosterone supplementation	9.3 (138/1,479)
On antiandrogen therapy	3.7 (55/1,479)
On lipid-lowering medications	30.3 (448/1,479)

Figure 1.  Age distribution by decade.

Table III.  Robust linear regression for studying the association between testosterone and Framingham score.

Parameter	Estimate	Standard error	95% CI	p value
All subjects
Total testosterone	−0.0042	0.001	(−0.0063, −0.0022)	<0.0001
Free testosterone	−0.27	0.076	(−0.42, −0.13)	0.0003
Excluding those on testosterone supplements, antiandrogen therapy, or lipid-lowering medications
Total testosterone	−0.0043	0.0015	(−0.0071, −0.0014)	0.0031
Free testosterone	−0.26	0.11	(−0.47, −0.05)	0.015

Figure 2.  Comparison of Framingham score based on total testosterone level. Boxes encompass Framingham scores between the 25th and 75th percentiles.

Figure 3.  Comparison of total testosterone based on Framingham score. Boxes encompass total testosterone levels between the 25th and 75th percentiles.

Table IV.  Spearman correlation coefficients for studying association between testosterone and the indicated parameters.

	Total testosterone	Free testosterone
Age^a	−0.0039 (p = 0.89)	−0.25 (p < 0.0001)
BMI^a	−0.32 (p < 0.0001)	−0.16 (p < 0.0001)
Total cholesterol^b	−0.09 (p = 0.004)	0.18 (p < 0.0001)
HDL^b	0.14 (p < 0.0001)	0.038 (p = 0.41)
LDL^b	−0.014 (p = 0.65)	0.18 (p < 0.0001)
Triglycerides^b	−0.31 (p < 0.0001)	0.013 (p = 0.78)
Systolic blood pressure^c	−0.03 (p = 0.44)	−0.0059 (p = 0.92)
Number of blood pressure medications^a	−0.13 (p < 0.0001)	−0.13 (p = 0.0024)

^aExcluding those on testosterone supplementation or antiandrogen therapy.

^bExcluding those on testosterone supplementation, antiandrogen therapy, or lipid-lowering medications.

^cExcluding those on testosterone supplementation, antiandrogen therapy, or antihypertensive therapy.