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.

Coffee May Extend Your Life

A recent study conducted by several Spanish and American scientists reveals that drinking two to three cups of coffee a day does not increase risk of death. In fact, drinking both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee may be linked with a slightly reduced risk of death due to heart disease.

The study which was published in the June issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine was conducted by a team led by Dr. Esther Lopez-Garcia with the help of the US National Institutes of Health.

"Coffee consumption has been linked to various beneficial and detrimental health effects, but data on its relation with death were lacking," Dr. Lopez-Garcia said. "The possibility of a modest benefit of coffee consumption on heart disease, cancer, and other causes of death needs to be further investigated."

The study involved 84,214 women and 41,736 men, all of which are asked to fill up a questionaire every two to four years that included questions about their coffee consumption, other dietary habits, smoking status and their health. Lopez-Garcia and colleagues then looked at how different kinds of coffee drinking patterns correlated with frequency of death from any cause, from death due to heart disease, and from death due to cancer.

These data were then analyzed, showing the following results:

• Women who drank 2 to 3 cups of caffeinated coffee a day had a 25 per cent lower risk of death from heart disease over the follow up period (84,214 women from 1980 to 2004), compared with women who did not drink coffee.
• Women who drank 2 to 3 cups of caffeinated coffee a day also had an 18 per cent lower risk of death from causes not related to cancer or heart disease, over the follow up period compared to women who did not drink coffee.
• Men who drank 2 to 3 cups of caffeinated coffee a day showed no higher or lower risk of death during the follow up period, 41,736 men from 1986 to 2004) compared with men who did not drink coffee.
• During the follow up, 2,368 of the women died from heart disease, 5,011 from cancer, and 3,716 from other causes.
• 2,049 of the men died from heart disease, 2,491 from cancer, and 2,348 from other causes.
• Overall, taking into account other risk factors such as body size, smoking, diet, and some specific diseases, people who drank more coffee were less likely to die during the follow up period.
• The main reason for this was the lower risk of heart disease among the coffee drinkers.
• There was no link between coffee drinking and death due to cancer.
• In the main, there appeared to be no difference in the link to death rates between caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee, they both appeared to have the same link with lower death rates compared with people who did not drink any coffee at all.
• However, drinking decaffeinated coffee was linked to a small reduction in deaths from all causes and cardiovascular (CVD) diseases.

In conclusion, the study showed that regular coffee consumption may not be associated with an increased mortality rate. They also added that the positive benefits of coffee consumption on all-cause and mortality needs to be further investigated.

Lack of Sleep May Increase Chances of Death on Old Men

A new study conducted at the University of Minnesota revealed that disrupted rest and activity rhythms can be associated with the increased mortality rates among older men. Th study suggests that waking early, staying up late and severely disturbed sleep patterns on older men may have a detrimental impact on their health.

The experiment involved about 3,000 men older than 67 and they were tested for rest and activity biological rhythms using a device called an actigraph which they wore on heir wrists. This device tracked participants' movements, including the peak times of rest and activity, as well as the robustness of the activities for 24 hours a day for almost two years. Results showed that men who had peak activity times that were the earliest or latest, in comparison with the group average, had muhc greater risk of death.

Among the 3,000 participants, 180 died since the study begun.

"It's important to have a regular routine of waking and going to sleep," said Misti Paudel, M.P.H., principal investigator of the study and a member of the School of Public Health. "A good night sleep is important."

This is the first study to report strong associations between disturbed rest and activity rhythms and mortality rates in older men, who are still living in their homes (not institutionalized) - however, studies in cancer patients as well as institutionalized Alzheimer's patients have reported similar findings.

Lack of sleep can lead to a number of problems in older adults including depression, memory problems, and decreased attentiveness, and also can lead to serious health problems such as an increased risk of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.

Another key study finding is that men with more robust rest/activity rhythms had much lower mortality rates. Having greater levels of activity during the day and/or lower levels of activity during the night (better sleep quality) are characteristics of robust rhythms.