Low Testosterone Level May Increase Risk of Death in Men

According to a new study presented at the 90th Annual Meeting of The Endocrine Society in San Francisco, men may not live as long if they have low testosterone regardless of their age. This study conducted from Germany adds to the scientific evidence linking deficiency of the male sex hormone with increased death from all causes over time, called "all-cause mortality".

This study should serve as a warning to several men with low testosterone to start a healthier lifestyle. They should have better routine when it comes to weight control, regular exercise and a healthy diet to avoid repercussions of their medical condition.

"It is very possible that lifestyle determines levels of testosterone," Robin Haring, lead author of the study and a PhD student from Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald, Institute for Community Medicine said.

In the study, Haring and co-workers looked at death from any cause in nearly 2,000 men aged 20 to 79 years who were living in northeast Germany and who participated in the Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP). Follow-up averaged 7 years. At the beginning of the study, 5 percent of these men had low blood testosterone levels, defined as the lower end of the normal range for young adult men. The men with low testosterone were older, more obese, and had a greater prevalence of diabetes and high blood pressure, compared with men who had higher testosterone levels, Haring said.

Men with low testosterone levels had more than 2.5 times greater risk of dying during the next 10 years compared to men with higher testosterone, the study found. This difference was not explained by age, smoking, alcohol intake, level of physical activity, or increased waist circumference (a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease), Haring said.

In cause-specific death analyses, low testosterone predicted increased risk of death due to cardiovascular disease and cancer but not death of any other single cause.