Association of metabolic obesity phenotypes and total testosterone in Chinese male population

Abstract

Objective: Obesity and metabolic syndrome have been reported to exert an impact on the male reproductive system with decreasing levels of serum total testosterone (TT); however, the effect of different metabolic obesity phenotypes on testosterone has been poorly studied. We aimed to evaluate the association of metabolic obesity phenotypes and total testosterone levels in a Chinese male population. Methods: We performed a retrospective study based on an epidemiological investigation, a total of 4,081 male individuals aged from 40–75 years old were recruited. The population was classified as metabolically healthy normal weight (MHNW), metabolically healthy overweight/obese (MHO), metabolically unhealthy normal weight (MUNW), and metaboli-cally unhealthy overweight/obese (MUO) according to normal weight (BMI<25.0) and overweight/obesity (BMI≥25.0) with or without metabolic syndrome. Results: We collected 563 hypotestosteronemia among 4,081 male individuals. The odds ratios (ORs) (95% CIs) of hypotestosteronemia in obesity and metabolic syndrome were 3.072 (2.414–3.911) and 3.294 (2.631–4.125), respectively, after adjusting for age, luteiniz-ing hormone, smoking status, and alcohol consumption. Compared to the MHNW group, male subjects in MHO, MUNW, and MUO groups had decreased serum TT levels. Additionally, the MUO group had a lowest concentration of serum TT and a highest propor-tion of hypotestosteronemia. There was no significant difference of TT levels between the MHO and MUNW groups. Conclusion: Obesity and metabolic syndrome are independent risk factors of hypotestoster-onemia in Chinese male populations. Our study also suggested that individuals with MHO, MUNW, and MUO have a higher risk of developing hypotestosteronemia.