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Causal relationship between obesity and serum testosterone status in men : A bidirectional mendelian randomization analysis

Eriksson, Joel ; Haring, Robin ; Grarup, Niels ; Vandenput, Liesbeth ; Wallaschofski, Henri ; Lorentzen, Erik ; Hansen, Torben ; Mellström, Dan ; Pedersen, Oluf and Nauck, Matthias , et al. (2017) In PLoS ONE 12(4).
Abstract

Context Obesity in men is associated with low serum testosterone and both are associated with several diseases and increased mortality. Objectives Examine the direction and causality of the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and serum testosterone. Design Bi-directional Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis on prospective cohorts. Setting Five cohorts from Denmark, Germany and Sweden (Inter99, SHIP, SHIP Trend, GOOD and MrOS Sweden). Participants 7446 Caucasian men, genotyped for 97 BMI-associated SNPs and three testosterone-associated SNPs. Main outcome measures BMI and serum testosterone adjusted for age, smoking, time of blood sampling and site. Results 1 SD genetically instrumented increase in BMI was associated with a 0.25... (More)

Context Obesity in men is associated with low serum testosterone and both are associated with several diseases and increased mortality. Objectives Examine the direction and causality of the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and serum testosterone. Design Bi-directional Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis on prospective cohorts. Setting Five cohorts from Denmark, Germany and Sweden (Inter99, SHIP, SHIP Trend, GOOD and MrOS Sweden). Participants 7446 Caucasian men, genotyped for 97 BMI-associated SNPs and three testosterone-associated SNPs. Main outcome measures BMI and serum testosterone adjusted for age, smoking, time of blood sampling and site. Results 1 SD genetically instrumented increase in BMI was associated with a 0.25 SD decrease in serum testosterone (IV ratio: -0.25, 95% CI: -0.42-0.09, p = 2.8∗10-3). For a body weight reduction altering the BMI from 30 to 25 kg/m2, the effect would equal a 13% increase in serum testosterone. No association was seen for genetically instrumented testosterone with BMI, a finding that was confirmed using large-scale data from the GIANT consortium (n = 104349). Conclusions Our results suggest that there is a causal effect of BMI on serum testosterone in men. Population level interventions to reduce BMI are expected to increase serum testosterone in men.

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type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
PLoS ONE
volume
12
issue
4
article number
e0176277
publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
external identifiers
  • scopus:85018325539
  • pmid:28448539
  • wos:000400383600055
ISSN
1932-6203
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0176277
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
207f4e4f-591f-4f23-ad2d-204b2cde285d
date added to LUP
2017-05-19 08:24:04
date last changed
2024-04-14 11:49:57
@article{207f4e4f-591f-4f23-ad2d-204b2cde285d,
  abstract     = {{<p>Context Obesity in men is associated with low serum testosterone and both are associated with several diseases and increased mortality. Objectives Examine the direction and causality of the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and serum testosterone. Design Bi-directional Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis on prospective cohorts. Setting Five cohorts from Denmark, Germany and Sweden (Inter99, SHIP, SHIP Trend, GOOD and MrOS Sweden). Participants 7446 Caucasian men, genotyped for 97 BMI-associated SNPs and three testosterone-associated SNPs. Main outcome measures BMI and serum testosterone adjusted for age, smoking, time of blood sampling and site. Results 1 SD genetically instrumented increase in BMI was associated with a 0.25 SD decrease in serum testosterone (IV ratio: -0.25, 95% CI: -0.42-0.09, p = 2.8∗10<sup>-3</sup>). For a body weight reduction altering the BMI from 30 to 25 kg/m<sup>2</sup>, the effect would equal a 13% increase in serum testosterone. No association was seen for genetically instrumented testosterone with BMI, a finding that was confirmed using large-scale data from the GIANT consortium (n = 104349). Conclusions Our results suggest that there is a causal effect of BMI on serum testosterone in men. Population level interventions to reduce BMI are expected to increase serum testosterone in men.</p>}},
  author       = {{Eriksson, Joel and Haring, Robin and Grarup, Niels and Vandenput, Liesbeth and Wallaschofski, Henri and Lorentzen, Erik and Hansen, Torben and Mellström, Dan and Pedersen, Oluf and Nauck, Matthias and Lorentzon, Mattias and Husemoen, Lise Lotte Nystrup and Völzke, Henry and Karlsson, Magnus and Baumeister, Sebastian E. and Linneberg, Allan and Ohlsson, Claes}},
  issn         = {{1932-6203}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  number       = {{4}},
  publisher    = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
  series       = {{PLoS ONE}},
  title        = {{Causal relationship between obesity and serum testosterone status in men : A bidirectional mendelian randomization analysis}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0176277}},
  doi          = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0176277}},
  volume       = {{12}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}