Morning testosterone levels in adult males with obstructive sleep apnoea: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) may cause low testosterone levels in men by disrupting the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. Obesity, ageing and chronic disease state may also alter testosterone levels <b>Aims and objectives:</b> To compare morning testosterone levels in patients with OSA and those without OSA and to assess the association between morning testosterone levels and apnoea-hypopnea index (AHI), nocturnal hypoxia and obesity <b>Methods:</b> This was a single-centre, cross sectional observational study. Suspected cases of OSA 18-50 years having Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) &gt;11 or STOP BANG score &gt;3 underwent polysomnography. Healthy male volunteers 18-50 years, without clinical features of OSA along with negative screening questionnaires were recruited as controls. Venous blood samples from both groups were collected between 07.30 and 08.30 AM for testosterone and other biochemical tests. <b>Results:</b> Forty-five cases and 46 controls were analyzed. The mean (±SD) morning serum testosterone levels in OSA and controls were 166.83±9.84 and 221.23 ±14.9 ng/dl respectively (p=0.002). Mean testosterone levels in cases and controls with BMI ≥25kg/m2 were 159.82±60.65 and 238.65±132.63 (p=0.009) and with dyslipidemia were 159.654 ± 56.919 and 242.974 ± 128.272 ng/dl respectively (p=0.007). Significant negative correlation of testosterone level with BMI was found in cases but not in controls (correlation coefficient: -0.33745 vs 0.029868). No significant correlation was found in testosterone level with AHI, ODI and nadir SpO2 <b>Conclusions:</b> Mean serum testosterone levels were low in OSA patients.&nbsp;Obesity and dyslipidemia were&nbsp;associated with significantly low mean testosterone levels in them