Testosterone is negatively associated with the severity of coronary atherosclerosis in men

Abstract

This study aimed to determine whether plasma testosterone is associated with the severity of coronary atherosclerosis in a group of 803 men who underwent elective coronary angiography. Testosterone levels were measured in 803 male patients who were categorized into three groups according to testosterone level tertiles. All patients underwent elective coronary angiography, and the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD) was determined by the Gensini score. Moreover, patients were classified into two groups according to Gensini scores (score ≤26 and score >26) using the median values as cutoff points. The plasma testosterone levels were measured by an ELISA kit. The level of testosterone was negatively associated with the Gensini score (r=-0.188; P=0.000). A multiple linear regression analysis revealed that testosterone was an independent risk factor for the Gensini score (β=-0.110; P=0.002) after adjusting for confounding covariates. In a multivariate logistic regression model, the severity of CAD was shown to be significantly lower in the third tertile (highest) of testosterone compared to the first tertile (lowest) of testosterone (odds ratio (OR)=0.465; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.327-0.662; P=0.000). In this study, patients with lower testosterone levels had higher Gensini scores in a group of 803 men who underwent elective coronary angiography. Additional studies are needed to clarify the direction of causality and possible underlying mechanisms.