CARMEL, CALIF. – If preliminary results from an ongoing study are accurate, low baseline total serum testosterone levels could be a marker for obstructive sleep apnea in older men, Yao Schmidt reported at the Western regional meeting of the American Federation for Medical Research.
The issue is important because 20%–60% of men aged 60–80 years have borderline hypogonadism, said Ms. Schmidt, who is a second-year medical student at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver.
As part of a larger, ongoing study on the effects of exercise on the elderly, she and her associates at the university's Center on Aging evaluated 28 men aged 60–80 years. They recorded each man's apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), baseline total serum testosterone level, age, body mass index (BMI), neck size, and LDL cholesterol level.
The mean age of the men in both groups was 67 years, mean BMI was 29 kg/m
A total of 180 men are expected to enroll in the study through the end of 2009.
The issue is important because 20%–60% of men aged 60–80 years have borderline hypogonadism. MS. SCHMIDT