Analysis of cardiovascular risk factors associated with serum testosterone levels according to the US 2011–2012 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Objective: To investigate associations between cardiovascular disease risk factors, including fasting glucose, cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), LDL-c, blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), C-peptide, creatinine kinase, smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, C-reactive protein as well as homocysteine levels and cardiovascular events.

Methods: Data from 1545 men aged ≥40 years, with testosterone deficiency (TD) (<300 ng/dL) and non-TD (≥300 ng/dL) which were extracted from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey database 2011–2012 and analyzed.

Results: Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed positive associations between TD and BMI (≥35 vs. < 18.5: OR = 2.51, 95% CI: 1.19–5.32, p = .016), HDL-c (<0.91 vs. ≥0.91: OR = 1.60, 95% CI: 1.14–2.24, p = .006) and diabetes (diabetes vs. non-diabetes: OR = 1.48, 95% CI: 1.14–1.92, p = .004) as well as negative associations between TD and metabolic equivalent scores (≥12 vs. <12: OR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.52–0.91, p = .009) and smoking (Ever vs. never: OR = 0.69, 95% CI: 0.51–0.94, p = .018). Furthermore, total serum testosterone levels were lower in patients with heart failure (p = .04) and angina/angina pectoris (p = .001) compared with subjects without these cardiac problems.

Conclusion: Low serum testosterone was associated with multiple risk factors for CHD.