Examining the Link Between Androgen Deficiency and Cardiometabolic Risk

Friday, September 25 at 11:10am

LAS VEGAS—At this morning’s 11:10 session, physicians will have the opportunity to evaluate the relationship between androgen deficiency and metabolic syndrome, and learn how to screen for androgen deficiency in patients with cardiometabolic conditions, and vice versa.
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RELATED CONTENT
Androgen Deficiency in the Aging Male
Do Hypogonadal Older Men Benefit from Testosterone Therapy?
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In “Androgen Deficiency and Cardiometabolic Risk: Examining the Link to Improve Patient Care,” Joel J. Heidelbaugh, MD, FAAFP, FACG, a clinical professor in the departments of family medicine and urology at the University of Michigan Medical School, will also:

• Outline the current guidelines and evidence on testosterone therapy formulations, potential risks, and safety, and their implications for adherence and sustained outcomes; and

• Discuss how to improve patient/practitioner engagement and patient evaluation when men present with specific complaints, including sexual dysfunction, metabolic syndrome, and testicular hypogonadism.

Heidelbaugh will also weigh the question of whether family practitioners should screen for testosterone deficiency (TD) in men, and outline some of the pros and cons for doing so. In terms of reasons to screen for low T, he cites “major flaws” in studies suggesting that cardiovascular risks are associated with TD, and testosterone replacement therapy’s proven benefit in patients with cardiometabolic syndrome, for example. Heidelbaugh also points out that testosterone declines as men age, and that TD “is a real syndrome with real symptoms and improvable metabolic outcomes.”

Conversely, testosterone replacement therapy has been promoted as a “youth-restoring tonic and disease preventive,” he says, noting that aging adults are a “profitable market,” and that pharmaceutical companies “use non-specific symptoms to foster disease states,” for instance. Additionally, no consistent relationship has been established between T levels and symptoms associated with low T, according to Heidelbaugh.

Heidelbaugh will also focus on defining biochemical hypogonadism and examining the relationship between hypogonadism and metabolic syndrome, touching on the differing biochemical thresholds for treatment as well as the effects of hypogonadism, such as increased body mass index, low bone mineral density, reduced cognition and memory, depressed mood, and reduced strength and energy.

—Mark McGraw