Association between low testosterone and anaemia: Analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. (9th August 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Valancy, David; Blachman‐Braun, Ruben; Kuchakulla, Manish; Nackeeran, Sirpi; Ramasamy, Ranjith
• Is Part Of: Andrologia. Volume 53:Number 11(2021)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2021-08-09
• Subjects: anaemia -- haemoglobin -- low testosterone -- testosterone; Andrology -- Periodicals; Infertility, Male -- Periodicals; 616.69
• DOI: 10.1111/and.14210
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0303-4569

Abstract

Abstract: There is an androgen effect on haematopoiesis; however, the effect of low testosterone in anaemia has not been fully studied. In this study, we aim to explore the association of total serum testosterone, low testosterone (≤300 ng/dl), haemoglobin concentration and prevalence of anaemia in a nationally representative sample of men. We analysed data from the NHANES III database, and men between the age of 18–80 years of age were selected. We defined anaemia as haemoglobin ≤13.5 ng/dl and low serum testosterone as ≤300 ng/dl. After analysing 5, 888 men, it was shown that those with anaemia had a higher prevalence of low serum testosterone (32.3%) compared to those without anaemia (24.1%) ( p < .001), and in multivariable‐adjusted analysis, it was shown that low testosterone was significantly associated with anaemia (OR = 1.44; 95% CI: 1.17–1.78; p = .001). Our findings suggest that men with low serum testosterone have a higher risk of anaemia, and there is a positive association between serum testosterone and serum Hb. Further prospective studies need to be performed to confirm our findings.