Association Between Testosterone Levels and Clinical Markers of Atherosclerosis

1.1. Objectives: To investigate the association between testosterone levels and parameters obtainedfrom the clinical exercise stress test from 119 middle-aged Swedish men.1.2. Material and Methods: All subjects underwent a clinical exercise stress test and data on maximalheart rate, systolic pressure, diastolic pressure; and ST-segment levels in lead augmented vector foot(lead aVF) and lead left precordial voltage 5 (lead v5) were collected. Serum testosterone levels weremeasured. Data on age, body mass index (BMI), smoking, alcohol consumption, and family historyof cardiovascular diseases (CVD) were gathered. Men were classified into two groups: hypogonadal(testosterone ≤ 12 nmol/L), and eugonadal (testosterone > 12 nmol/L).1.3. Results: We found a significant negative correlation between testosterone and maximal systolicpressure (r= -0.30, P=0.01). Hypogonadal men had significantly higher systolic pressure and moredepressed ST-segment in lead V5 compared to eugonadal men (225mmHg vs. 210mmHg; p=0.01),(-0.13mm vs. 0.27mm; p=0.04), respectively. In a multivariate regression analysis test adjusted for theage of subjects, BMI, smoking, alcohol consumption, and family history of CVD, a significant negativeassociation was found only between testosterone and maximal systolic pressure (β= -0.829, p=0.04,95% CI= -1.636, -0.022).1.4. Conclusions: Our findings of an inverse relationship between testosterone levels and parametersof clinical stress test suggest that low testosterone may be a cardiovascular risk factor.