To test the hypothesis that lower endogenous testosterone levels are associated with higher blood pressure, left ventricular mass, and left ventricular hypertrophy.
Population-based cross-sectional study.
Sex hormone levels, measured by immunoassay, anthropometric measurements and resting blood pressure were studied in 1548 men aged 25-84 Years; echocardiography was completed in 1264 of these men. Partial correlations and multiple regressions were used to estimate the associations between sex hormones, blood pressure and left ventricular mass by height. Analyses of variance and covariance were used to compare men with categorical hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy.
In age-adjusted partial correlations, total testosterone and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) were each inversely associated with systolic blood pressure (SBP) (P or =140 or diastolic blood pressure (DBP)> or =90 mmHg) had lower levels of total and free testosterone and SHBG before (P