According to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) men who have low testosterone and type 2 diabetes face a greater risk of developing atherosclerosis – a condition where plaque builds up in the arteries – than men who have diabetes and normal testosterone levels.

“Our study indicates a strong association between low testosterone concentration and the severity of atherosclerotic plaques as well as other key atherosclerotic markers in middle-aged men with type 2 diabetes,” said one of the study’s authors, Javier Mauricio Farias, MD,(Hospital Universitario Sanatorio Guemes in Buenos Aires, Argentina). “The results of our study advance our understanding of the interplay between low testosterone and cardiovascular disease in patients with diabetes.”

The cross-sectional prospective study examined testosterone levels and key atherosclerotic markers, including intimal media thickening of the layers in the carotid artery, the presence of atherosclerotic plaques,function of the endothelial cells that line the heart and blood vessels, and inflammatory markers in 115 men with type 2 diabetes. The participants were younger than age 70 and had no history of cardiovascular disease. Researchers measured the levels of testosterone in each participant’s blood. Among the participants, more than half of patients with diabetes were found to have low testosterone levels.

The study found men who had low testosterone and type 2 diabetes were six times more likely to have increased thickness of the carotid artery and endothelium dysfunction compared to men with normal serum testosterone levels.

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