Men with hypogonadism can lose or maintain weight with the help of long-term testosterone therapy. Researchers from the United States and Germany have reported that long-term testosterone therapy can aid men suffering from hypogonadism to lose weight and maintain it after shedding some pounds. The result of the study conducted after 10 years was represented at ENDO 2019, an annual meeting of the Endocrine Society in New Orleans, LA.
Man with Hypogonadism
According to one of the authors of the study, men who are suffering from hypogonadism, a form of testosterone deficiency, will most likely be at risk of obesity. The good news is that the study found out that obese men who have hypogonadism will have progressive and sustained weight loss after they have received long-term testosterone therapy. On the other hand, those who left untreated gained weight, including their baseline weight, waist circumference, BMI, and waist-to-height ratio.
The study discussed that the reduction in weight, as well as waist circumference, can reduce mortality and various cardiovascular health events. The researchers have been conducting an ongoing study of men with hypogonadism. This 10-year study was conducted on 805 patients with hypogonadism in their late 50s to mid-60s and 57.4 percent of obese patients were given long-term testosterone therapy using testosterone undecanoate injections. They are given 1,000 mg of testosterone every 12 weeks.
After 10 years of study, those men who received testosterone treatment lost around 20.3 percent of their baseline weight and 12.5 cm of their waist circumference. The BMI of this group was reduced by 7.3 kg/m2 and their waist-to-height ratio was reduced by 0.07.
On the other hand, those left untreated gained around 3.9 percent of their baseline weight and 4.6 cm of their waist circumference. The BMI of this group was increased by 0.9 kg/m2 and their waist-to-height ratio was increased by 0.03.
Over 10 years, only around 4.4 percent in the testosterone group died, while 30.2 percent in the untreated groups mainly because of myocardial infarctions and strokes.
The study concluded that long-term testosterone therapy can help men with hypogonadism and obesity as well which will improve body size and composition. Long-term testosterone therapy was also linked to various health-related problems that can increase the risk of death, stroke, and heart attack.
The study suggests that a man who has hypogonadism and at the same time is obese should assess their testosterone levels. And if it was found out that testosterone therapy is appropriate for them as a treatment, then they should be offered testosterone treatment to improve their weight and avoid the risks of death, stroke, and heart attack.
References
- https://www.endocrine.org/clinical-practice-guidelines/testosterone-therapy
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3262378/
- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190325151022.htm
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