title: Association between serum inhibin-B levels and coronary artery disease in aging males.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Atherosclerosis is a systemic disorder. It is a frequent leading cause of coronary artery disease (CAD). Similarly, atherosclerotic vascular alterations could lead to testicular arterial blood flow reduction and impairment of testicular function with age. Inhibin-B has been validated as a valuable serum marker of testicular functions and its correlation with testicular volume was shown in some studies done before. The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between serum inhibin-B levels and CAD in elderly men.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between March 2009 and March 2010, fifty-two 50-80-year-old consecutive patients with Gensini score over 20 and ejection fraction (EF) > 50% were included in the study as the CAD group. Fifty healthy men without any cardiac disease history were recruited as the control group. All patients in the CAD group who had indications for coronary artery angiography underwent selective coronary artery angiography.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Inhibin-B, total testosterone and testicular volume levels were found to be significantly lower in the CAD group in comparison with the control group (p = 0.004, p < 0.0001, and p = 0.001 respectively).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, although no correlation was found in CAD patients between Gensini score and inhibin-B or testicular volume, inhibin-B levels and testicular volume were significantly lower in patients with CAD than in healthy men. In order to fully assess the relationship between serum inhibin-B levels and CAD, multi-centered prospective and longitudinal studies must be done in elderly male patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Canakkale Military Hospital, Turkey.
authors.forename: Hasan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kocoglu
authors.forename: Cabir
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Alan
authors.forename: Dilek Ulker
authors.initials: DU
authors.lastname: Cakır
authors.forename: Ercan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Malkoc
authors.forename: Kahraman
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cosansu
authors.forename: Bahadır
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kırılmaz
authors.forename: Yunus
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ertung
authors.forename: Ahmet Resit
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Ersay
keywords: coronary artery disease; inhibin-B