Low testosterone linked to higher cancer death risk

Science Daily has a release on hormone research from international researchers (led by the University of Western Australia) who studied 26,000 men in Australia, the UK, and the US for decades, comparing hormone levels early in life with eventual causes of death. They found that testosterone can act as a canary in the coal mine for fatal cancers:

Researchers found that men with low testosterone had an 18 percent higher risk of dying from cancer. However, the relationship was not the same for every type of cancer. Surprisingly, testosterone levels were not associated with prostate cancer risk. Instead, prostate cancer was more closely linked to low levels of two other hormones, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) and luteinizing hormone.

The research comes from the Androgens In Men Study (AIMS), an international collaboration led by Professor Bu Yeap at The University of Western Australia. The project investigates how different sex hormones relate to cancer risk and other health outcomes in men.

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The researchers identified a testosterone concentration below which cancer risk began to rise. According to Professor Yeap, testosterone levels in healthy younger men typically range from 10 to 30 nanomoles per liter (nmol/L), although concentrations generally decrease with age.

Testosterone levels can also be influenced by factors that people may be able to change, including body mass index and physical activity. Certain medical conditions, such as diabetes, can affect testosterone concentrations as well.

“We saw that when baseline testosterone was below 8.6 nmol/L, subsequent cancer risk started increasing,” Professor Yeap said.

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“Since reducing testosterone levels is a treatment for prostate cancer there’s always been a question of whether the amount of testosterone your own body makes relates to your risk of prostate cancer but based on our findings there’s no evidence they are related,” Professor Yeap said.

“We did find, however, that men with low levels of SHBG and luteinizing hormone were at higher risk of prostate cancer.”

The results highlight an important distinction between testosterone and other hormones involved in male reproductive function. Although low testosterone was associated with higher overall cancer risk and mortality, prostate cancer showed a different pattern of hormonal associations.

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You can read more of the hormone-cancer study here, in The Lancet Healthy Longevity.