Testosterone Falls No More With Than Without HIV Over 6 Years in MACS

Nelson Vergel

Founder, ExcelMale.com
These are very unexpected study results!

Free testosterone did not fall more through 6 years of follow-up in HIV-positive than HIV-negative older men in the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) [1]. HIV-positive men had lower morning but not afternoon/evening testosterone levels than matched HIV-negative men, a finding that may indicate loss of diurnal variation in older men with HIV.

Testosterone declines with age may play a role in age-related conditions such as cardiovascular disease, glucose abnormalities, osteoporosis, sarcopenia (muscle mass loss), and sexual dysfunction, noted Laurence Slama (Tenon Hospital, Paris) and MACS colleagues. Testosterone levels and diurnal variation also drop with age in the general male population. Cross-sectional studies show lower than expected testosterone levels in men with HIV. But no longitudinal study addressed testosterone changes in men with versus without HIV until this MACS analysis.

MACS is an ongoing study of US men who have sex with men with or without HIV infection. Cohort members make twice-yearly study visits for check-ups, interviews, and blood draws. The testosterone analysis included men 45 and older when they began antiretroviral therapy (ART). All men had a serum sample from before they started ART and two or more samples after starting. Slama and colleagues matched each HIV-positive man to an HIV-negative man by age, race, MACS site, and calendar time for the pre-ART and on-ART samples. The researchers excluded men who took hormones of any kind or had testosterone levels high enough (above 150 ng/dL) to suggest unreported testosterone use.


http://www.natap.org/2014/CROI/croi_19.htm
 

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Scientific Reference

Lakshman KM, Kaplan B, Travison TG, Basaria S, Knapp PE, Singh AB, LaValley MP, Mazer NA, Bhasin S. The effects of injected testosterone dose and age on the conversion of testosterone to estradiol and dihydrotestosterone in young and older men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2010 Aug;95(8):3955-64.

DOI: 10.1210/jc.2010-0102 | PMID: 20534765 | PMCID: PMC2913038

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