Endocrine Abstracts

Background and objective: There have been reported increase prevalence of hypogonadism in diabetic men compared to age matched non-diabetic men. The objective of this study was to assess the level of androgens in T2DM patients and non-diabetics and correlate it with erectile function and visceral adiposity.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional comparative study of 160 male patients with T2DM (study subjects) and 80 age matched non-diabetics (control subjects). Level of free testosterone and LH was assayed, erectile dysfunction was assessed with IIEF-5 questionnaire and clinical data of both the study and control subjects were analysed.

Results: The study and control subjects were well matched for age, with mean±S.D. of study subjects being 58.2±10.1 years and control subjects was 56.6±11.3 years. The study subjects had a significantly lower mean±S.D. free testosterone level than the control subjects (16.9±6.7 pg/ml compared with 21.6±8.9 pg/ml, P=0.00). The mean±S.D. LH level of the study subjects was significant lower, compared to that of the control subjects (5.3±3.1 mIU/l compared to 7.8±5.5 mIU/l, P<0.05). Among the study subjects, ED was present in 118 (73.8%) persons compared to 32 (40.0%) persons in the control subjects. The difference in the prevalence of ED in the two groups was statistically significant. (χ²=25.9, df=1, P=0.00). The mean±S.D. BMI, WC and WHR was also statistically significantly higher in the study subjects compared to control subjects.BMI (26.2±4.0 kg/m² compared to 24.5±3.0 kg/m²; P<0.001). WC (98.7±13.1 cm compared to 90.5±10.5 cm; P<0.001). WHR (1.0±0.0 compared to 0.9±0.1; P=0.02).

Conclusion: Our study showed that patients with T2DM had hypogonadotrophic hypogonadism compared to the non-diabetics. Erectile dysfunction and visceral adiposity was more prevalent in men with T2DM compared to age-matched non-diabetics.