The Role of Testosterone in Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome in Men

Over the last three decades, it has become apparent that testosterone plays a significant role in glucose homeostasis and lipid metabolism. The metabolic syndrome is a clustering of risk factors predisposing to diabetes mellitus type 2, atherosclerosis and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The main components of the syndrome are visceral obesity, insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, raised blood pressure and dyslipidemia (elevated triglycerides, low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol), and a pro-inflammatory and thrombogenic state. Cross-sectional epidemiological studies have reported a direct correlation between plasma testosterone and insulin sensitivity, and low testosterone levels are associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus, dramatically illustrated by androgen deprivation in men with prostate carcinoma. Lower total testosterone and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) predict a higher incidence of the metabolic syndrome. There is evidence that hypotestosteronemia should be an element in the definition of the metabolic syndrome since low levels of testosterone are associated with or predict the development of the metabolic syndrome and of diabetes mellitus. Administration of testosterone to hypogonadal men reverses part of the unfavorable risk profile for the development of diabetes and atherosclerosis. So far, studies on the effects of normalization of testosterone in hypogonadal men on glucose homeostasis are limited, but convincing, and if diabetes mellitus is viewed in the context of the metabolic syndrome, the present results of testosterone treatment are very encouraging.