title: Sex hormones associated with subclinical kidney damage and atherosclerosis in South African men:  the SABPA study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hypertension and increased blood glucose are associated with subclinical kidney damage, atherosclerosis and with low testosterone values. Low testosterone in men is often accompanied by increased levels of estradiol.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  In this study, the association between estradiol, subclinical kidney damage and atherosclerosis in African and white men in a South African cohort was investigated. Cardiovascular variables were studied by means of B-mode ultrasound and ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring. The sex hormones and other biochemical values were measured from fasting venous blood and overnight urine samples. The ethnic groups were stratified into low and high testosterone groups by means of median split.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The low testosterone African group demonstrated a higher cardiovascular risk compared with the low testosterone white men with 91% being hypertensive and having increased albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR), left carotid intima-media thickness (L-CIMTf) and estradiol-to-testosterone ratio. In the low-testosterone African men, estradiol explained 33% of the variance in ACR, whereas the estradiol-to-testosterone ratio explained 22% of the variance in L-CIMTf, respectively. Estradiol-to-testosterone ratio was positively associated with ACR in the low testosterone whites.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that increased levels of estradiol may play a role in the development of subclinical kidney damage in both African and white men as well as atherosclerosis in low-testosterone African men.
authors.affiliation: Hypertension in Africa Research Team, School for Physiology, Nutrition and Consumer Sciences, North West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa. nico.malan@nwu.ac.za
authors.forename: Nico T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Malan
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hamer
authors.forename: Gavin W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.forename: Aletta E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Schutte
authors.forename: Hugo W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Huisman
authors.forename: Johannes M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Van Rooyen
authors.forename: Catharina M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Mels
authors.forename: Wayne
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Carla M T
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Fourie
authors.forename: Rudolph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schutte
authors.forename: Ruan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kruger
authors.forename: Leoné
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Malan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000418:Albumins / Q000378:metabolism; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000378:metabolism; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D044383:Black People; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003404:Creatinine / Q000378:metabolism; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000503:physiopathology; D004958:Estradiol / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D013739:Testosterone / Q000097:blood*; D044465:White People
chemical_list: D000418:Albumins; D015415:Biomarkers; D013739:Testosterone; D004958:Estradiol; D003404:Creatinine