Low testosterone linked to adverse outcomes in T2DM

(HealthDay)—For men with type 2 diabetes, low serum testosterone seems to be implicated in adverse clinical outcomes, according to a review published online Nov. 3 in the Journal of Diabetes Investigation.

Kitty Kit Ting Cheung, from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and colleagues conducted a systematic review of the literature to examine the evidence on low serum testosterone levels in patients with type 2 diabetes. The authors examined the implications of these levels on cardiovascular risk factors, metabolic syndrome, and adverse clinical outcomes.

The researchers note that there is accumulating evidence that low serum testosterone is associated with type 2 diabetes. Multiple lines of evidence indicate a possible causal role of low serum testosterone level in type 2 diabetes and obesity. Data from epidemiological studies, mainly in Caucasian populations, have confirmed inverse correlations between serum testosterone level and aging, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and cardiovascular-disease-related and all-cause mortality.

"In conclusion, review of the literature has identified multiple mechanisms supportive of the effects of low serum testosterone level on causing insulin resistance, obesity, vascular dysfunction, and inflammation," the authors write. "At this moment, the results from these studies could not support checking testosterone level in asymptomatic men with type 2 diabetes, as an independent predictor effect of low testosterone on adverse clinical outcomes has not been clearly established."