This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Lower testosterone levels associated with poor quality of life, sexual function
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Men with nontestosterone-related cancer diagnosed with hypogonadism had poorer scores for quality of life and sexual function compared with healthy men.
Researchers collected blood and medical histories from 407 men treated at three US cancer centers and analyzed serum for total testosterone, free testosterone, bioavailable testosterone (< 95 ng/dL) and sex hormone-binding globulin. Patients were also assessed for quality of life and sexual function using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Prostate (FACT-P) questionnaire.
Patients whose total testosterone was less than 300 ng/dL, free testosterone was less than 52 ng/dL or bioavailable testosterone was less than 95 ng/dL for men younger than 70 years and less than 60 ng/dL for older men were considered hypogonadal. Men diagnosed with prostate, testicular or breast cancer, known hypogonadism and/or HIV were excluded.
Roughly half (48%) of the cohort was hypogonadal.
The mean FACT-P score for physical well-being was 20.2 for hypogonadal patients vs. 21.7 for eugonadal men. Eugonadal patients had a mean score of 9.6 for sexual function compared with 8.4 for hypogonadal patients.
Researchers determined that obesity, opioid use and white ethnicity were strong predictors for hypogonadism. Additionally, men with respiratory cancers had a crude prevalence rate of hypogonadism of 58% by total testosterone; men with gastrointestinal cancers had a rate of 43%. Prevalence rates were also high for patients diagnosed with head and neck cancers (52%) and hematologic malignancies (45%).
For more information:
- Fleishman SB. J Clin Oncol. 2010;doi:10.1200/JCO.2010.30.3818.