Prediabetes in Overweight Adult Men: Serum Testosterone Variations

Background: Prediabetes (PD), an intermediate stage between normoglycemia and diabetes mellitus (DM), is characterized by elevated blood glucose levels, but not enough to be to be diagnosed as DM. Some studies show that men with hypogonadism are at an increased risk for insulin resistance (IR) and PD. This study aimed to evaluate the variation of testosterone levels in adult Saudi men with normal weight (NW) and PD (NW-PD) and men with overweight (OW) and PD (OW-PD). Methods and Results: This case-control study comprised 391 adult Saudi males (age range: 35-40 years). The subjects in the current study had a body mass index (BMI) of 18.5-29.9 kg/m². The adult subjects were categorized into four groups: 1) NW control (NW-C), 2) OW control (OW-C), 3) men with NW and PD (NW-PD), and 4) men with OW and PD (OW-PD). The serum testosterone level was determined using ELISA kits. Testosterone levels in the OW-PD group were significantly lower than those in the NW-PD group (P=0.03). BMI plotted against serum testosterone for the OW-PD group showed a significant negative linear correlation between BMI and testosterone (R²=0.05, P=0.03). Conclusion: The present study provides helpful information about the overweight status in association with decreased serum testosterone in men with prediabetes.