Categories
News on Health & Science

Low Testosterone, Early Death: Study

NEW YORK: The lower a man’s testosterone level, the higher his risk of death – especially from heart disease.

A team of international researchers has carried out a study and found the link between low testosterone and earlier death, the WebMD reported.

“Men with lower testosterone levels have an increased risk of dying from any cause, particularly of cardiovascular disease,” according to lead researcher Kay-Tee Khaw of the University of Cambridge.

The team’s finding came from a four-year study of over 2,000 British men aged 40 to 79. More than 800 of the men died by 2003; the researchers compared their testosterone levels to those of some 1,500 living study participants.

“We looked at cancer, too, and found no evidence of a link to cancer with higher testosterone levels,” Khaw said.

After adjusting for factors that might affect risk of death – including age, weight, smoking, alcohol use, high blood pressure, diabetes, physical activity, education, and social class – the link between low testosterone and earlier death remained.

“We found that low testosterone predicts early mortality in men over the next 10 years or so. But we think this finding needs to be replicated. We would like others to look at this in other populations of men and see if they get the same results. Our study may provide some reassurance of those planning trials of testosterone supplementation. The irony is that while a lot of men believe testosterone supplements may be good for their health, those trials have not been done because of ethical concerns of testosterone causing prostate cancer,” Khaw said.

The Times Of India

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

css.php