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Weight loss more than glycemic control may improve testosterone in obese type 2 diabetes mellitus men with hypogonadism
Author(s) -
Giagulli Vito Angelo,
Castellana Marco,
Carbone Matteo Domenico,
Pelusi Carla,
Ramunni Maria Isabella,
De Pergola Giovanni,
Guastamacchia Edoardo,
Triggiani Vincenzo
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
andrology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.947
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 2047-2927
pISSN - 2047-2919
DOI - 10.1111/andr.12754
Subject(s) - medicine , glycemic , diabetes mellitus , weight loss , testosterone (patch) , type 2 diabetes mellitus , type 2 diabetes , body mass index , obesity , erectile dysfunction , endocrinology , prospective cohort study
Background Functional hypogonadism is a common disorder among patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus and could be managed by first treating the underlying causes. Objective The present study was undertaken to investigate the contribution of body weight and glycemic control to the reversibility of hypogonadism to eugonadism in a real‐life setting. Materials and methods Adult obese male patients with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes mellitus, complaining of mild to moderate erectile dysfunction and suspected of functional hypogonadism evaluated at our institution from 2015 to 2017, were retrospectively included. The gonadal status 3 and 12 months after the glucose‐lowering medication prescription was assessed. Results Seventy‐one consecutive patients were enrolled, with 24 (34%) of them achieving total testosterone ≥300 ng/dL (10.4 nM/L) at the end of the study. When they were stratified according to HbA1c and body weight loss, a direct correlation was found for the latter only. Particularly, 94% of patients achieving a body weight loss >10% presented with total testosterone ≥300 ng/dL. An inverse correlation was found for HbA1c, with no higher prevalence of total testosterone ≥300 ng/dL in patients with HbA1c <6.5%. Discussion The findings are strengthened by the rigorous study design. However, a limited number of patients and glucose‐lowering medications could be included. Conclusions The present study supports the hypothesis that in obese patients with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes mellitus losing weight may have a greater impact on androgens compared to improving glycemic control. Further prospective studies are needed to corroborate this finding.