Abstract: Diabetes Mellitus is fast gaining the status of a potential epidemic in India with more than 62 million diabetic individuals currently diagnosed with the disease. A high prevalence of low serum testosterone (LST) and hypogonadism(HG) in men with type 2 diabetes have been reported worldwide.
Objective: To assess the prevalence of androgen deficiency and hypogonadism and their relation to associated complications of T2DM.
Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study, conducted among 50 men (aged 30-60 years) with type 2 diabetes who consecutively attended endocrine OPD at Father Muller Medical College Hospital Mangalore, between August 2013 and February 2015. The patients’ demographic characteristics were collected using a basic questionnaire. Duration of diabetes, smoking habits, presence of retinopathy and nephropathy were collected from the medical records. Hypogonadism was assessed with the help of Androgen Deficiency in Ageing Male (ADAM) questionnaire. Venous blood samples were collected to test for total testosterone (TT), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), prolactin (PRL), serum lipids, and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c). LST was defined as TT <3 ng/ml. These parameters were compared with the complications associated with T2DM.
Results: Overall, 18% of patients with diabetes had TT level <3 ng/ml and 40% had symptoms of androgen deficiency. Of those with serum testosterone level <3ng/ml, 66.6% had symptoms of androgen deficiency, 11.1% had primary hypogonadism (HG), and 88.9% had secondary HG. High incidence of retinopathy and nephropathy was found among patients with low testosterone. On analyzing, significant relationship was found between smoking, hypertension, duration of diabetes, diabetic nephropathy and diabetic retinopathy and low testosterone levels.
Conclusions: Smoking, hypertension, duration of diabetes mellitus, diabetic nephropathy and diabetic retinopathy were found to be associated with LST. So LST can be considered as a indicator of microvasular complications of T2DM.
Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, low serum testosterone, Hypogonadism, prevalence.
Title: Prevalence of Low Serum Testosterone among Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Predictor of Micro Vascular Disease
Author: Vijayamahantesh N N, Deepak C L, Sudeep K, Venkatesha B M.
International Journal of Healthcare Sciences
ISSN 2348-5728 (Online)
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