Testosterone and Blood Pressure Levels in Prehypertensive Men in Calabar, Nigeria

Background: Evidence exists for an association of low testosterone with hypertension in men. However, no data pertaining to testosterone levels in prehypertensive men exist.

Aim: This study aimed at evaluating the relationship between endogenous total testosterone levels and blood pressure (BP) in prehypertensive men.

Methods: The case-control study comprised a total of 60 apparently healthy men aged 40 to 49 years, attending general check up at the university teaching hospital from December 2015 to February 2016. The participants were divided into 30 prehypertensive and 30 normotensive groups. Fasting plasma total testosterone, C-peptide, glucose (FPG), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) of the prehypertensive men were compared with age and adiposity matched normotensive controls using the student’s t-test. Associations of total testosterone with blood pressure (systolic-SBP and diastolic-DBP), testosterone with confounding parameters in prehypertensive and normotensive men were determined using Pearson correlation analysis.

Results: Comparison of biochemical parameters of prehypertensive (SBP: 131.53±3.20; DBP: 85.63±9.09) men with the matched normotensive controls (SBP: 116.87±6.03; DBP: 78.63±6.95), showed that mean testosterone level of prehypertensive men (4.29±1.34) was significantly (P=.007) lower than that of normotensive controls (5.10±0.87). Pearson’s correlation analysis revealed a significant inverse (r= -.577; P=.001) correlation between testosterone and age in normotensive controls, whereas no significant inverse correlation (r= -.329; P=.076) was observed between testosterone and age in prehypertensive men. A significant inverse correlation was observed between testosterone and SBP (r= -.423; P=.02); testosterone and DBP (r=-.377; P=.04) in prehypertensive men. However, testosterone levels in normotensives showed no significant (P>.05) correlation with blood pressure. No significant (P>.05) correlation was found between testosterone and metabolic indices in the study groups.

Conclusions: This highly selected population of middle-aged prehypertensive men demonstrates decreased endogenous total testosterone levels with increasing blood pressure.