Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) has the same risk of cardiovascular event with coronary artery disease (CAD). Men with diabetes are characterized by a decrease in circulating testosterone concentrations, and testosterone deficiency have been associated with increased risk of metabolic syndrome and CAD. With the increased popularity of western life style in China, the morbidity of T2DM increased greatly in young Chinese people. This study aimed to investigate the association of plasma testosterone concentration with certain cardiovascular risk factors in young Chinese men of T2DM.

Methods and design: We reviewed 300 aged 18–30 male T2DM patients in the Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University through 2010–2011. All the patients were given oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), insulin release test (IRT), and the detection of serum testosterone, serum lipid, Hs-CRP. All the patients were given electrocardiogram and detection of myocardium enzyme to rule out the acute coronary syndrome.

Results: Serum testosterone was significantly correlated with age (r=−0.14), BMI (r=−0.15), waist circumference (r=−0.21), triglyceride (TG) (r=−0.23), Hs-CRP (r=−0.26), MBP (r=−0.12), and HOMA-IR (r=−0.24) (all P<0.01). After adjustment for BMI, waist circumference, age and smoking history, the plasma testosterone was still significantly correlated with Hs-CRP, HOMA-IR, and TG. There were 180 patients with smoking history who had lower serum testosterone concentration in compared with non-smokers in this study, but the difference was not significant. There was no significant difference in the plasma testosterone concentration between the patients with or without coronary heart disease family history. Multiple regression analysis indicated that serum testosterone concentration was the independent predictor of HOMA-IR, Hs-CRP, and TG.

Conclusions: Serum testosterone in young T2DM men was significantly and independently correlated with HOMA-IR, Hs-CRP and TG, and might be one of the predictors of cardiovascular disease.