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Less than 6% of American men have symptomatic androgen deficiency
More than 6.5 million men aged 30 to 79 years may have this symptomatic disorder by 2025, up 38% from previous estimates.
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The Boston Area Community Health Survey has found that the prevalence of men aged 30 to 79 who have low testosterone levels accompanied by clinical symptoms is 5.6%. This prevalence increases substantially as men age (18.4% among men older than 70 years).
“This is particularly significant because the ongoing aging of the American male population is likely to cause the number of men suffering from androgen deficiency to increase appreciably,” Andre B. Araujo, PhD, research scientist at New England Research Institutes, Watertown, Mass., said in a press release.
However, the Boston Area Community Health (BACH) study did not assess whether men with this condition are good candidates for testosterone therapy. Araujo recommends randomized, placebo-controlled trials to test the effects of that therapy in this cohort.
The BACH study
Araujo and colleagues analyzed data on 1,475 randomly selected men (mean age, 47.3 years) from the BACH study. They assessed testosterone levels, symptoms of hormone deficiency and medications that may impact sex hormone levels.
Of the men, 24% had low total testosterone and 11% had low free testosterone. Many men were asymptomatic, particularly those aged 50 years and older (47.6%). Just 12% experienced low libido; 16%, erectile dysfunction; 1%, osteoporosis/fracture; and 20%, two or more of the nonspecific symptoms.
Symptomatic androgen deficiency was not significantly related to any race or ethnic group.
Public health impact
“Low levels of testosterone impact many aspects of male physiology,” Araujo said.
“Given this, and since these asymptomatic men with low testosterone levels would not likely come to clinical attention, it may be important to determine whether there are clinical risks to missing these asymptomatic men with low testosterone levels,” he said.
The BACH survey was supported by DK 56842 from the National institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases. Analyses for the current study were supported through an unrestricted educational grant from GlaxoSmithKline.
For more information:
- Araujo AB, Esche GR, Kupelian V, et al. Prevalence of symptomatic androgen deficiency in men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab [online]. 2007. doi:10.1210/jc.2007-1245. Accessed on: Sept. 7, 2007.