Clinical correlates of sex steroids and gonadotropins in men over the late adulthood: the Framingham Heart Study.
Low serum concentrations of sex steroids and gonadotropins in men have been associated with increased cardiometabolic risk and mortality, but the clinical correlates of these hormones in men over late adulthood are less clearly understood. We analysed up to five serial measurements of total testosterone (TT), dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and total estradiol (EST) in older men in the original cohort of the Framingham Heart Study to determine the short- (2-years; 1,165 person-observations in 528 individuals) and long-term (up to 10-years follow-up; 2520 person-observations in 835 individuals with mean baseline age: 71.2 years) clinical correlates of these sex steroids and gonadotropins using multilevel modelling and Generalized Estimating Equations. Age, body mass index and pre-existing type 2 diabetes were inversely related to long-term TT concentrations, whereas higher systolic blood pressure showed a positive association. Furthermore, age and pre-existing cardiovascular disease (CVD) were inversely associated and HDL cholesterol concentrations positively associated with long-term DHEAS concentrations respectively. Analyses of short-term changes revealed age was inversely related to DHEAS, but positively related to FSH and LH concentrations. Our community-based study identified modifiable correlates of decreasing TT and DHEAS concentrations in elderly men, suggesting that maintenance of a low CVD risk factor burden may mitigate the age-related decline of these hormones over the late adulthood.
Preventive Medicine & Epidemiology Section and Section of General Internal Medicine.|Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
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Haring
Preventive Medicine & Epidemiology Section and Section of General Internal Medicine.|Department of Biostatistics.|National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA.
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Xanthakis
Preventive Medicine & Epidemiology Section and Section of General Internal Medicine.|Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Nutrition, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
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Coviello
Department of Biostatistics.
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Sullivan
Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Nutrition, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
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Bhasin
Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany.
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Wallaschofski
Preventive Medicine & Epidemiology Section and Section of General Internal Medicine.|National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA.
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JM
Murabito
Preventive Medicine & Epidemiology Section and Section of General Internal Medicine.|National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute's Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA.
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Vasan
D000368:Aged; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood; D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones / Q000097:blood*; D006062:Gonadotropins / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts; D008875:Middle Aged
D012739:Gonadal Steroid Hormones; D006062:Gonadotropins