Low Testosterone, Diabetes and Heart Disease

Low Testosterone or low t has been linked to several diseases that raise the likelihood of a shorter lifespan. Studies and clinical trials have come out recently from the United States, (St. Louis University, Duke University,) and the United Kingdom, (the Center for Men's Health, Barnsley Hospital,) indicate that men with low t may be more at risk for mortality associated with type 2 diabetes and coronary disease. Reports on some of the findings were published by Heart, a medical journal from BMJ Publishing.

First of all, the numbers of men who have low testosterone may be a staggering twenty-five to twenty percent, especially if they have been diagnosed with heart disease. This is surprising, because the previously estimated number of men with low t was twelve percent. This research comes from Duke University, who tracked 930 men. All of these men were diagnosed with coronary artery disease, which occurs when plaque builds up in the arteries that feed blood to and from the heart. This is also known as coronary heart disease. 930 men provided a good basis to study heart disease, but what the researchers discovered when they measured bio-available testosterone and took total testosterone levels (bio-t and TT,) was that one in every four patients also had low testosterone. What is even more striking about these numbers is that forty-two percent of the men with both coronary artery disease and low testosterone died during the study.

This is an estimated one of every eight men or twelve percent who died during the tests. The researchers at Duke are now trying to find out if plaque in the arteries or coronary artery disease affects low testosterone treatments and therapies.