PSA is a marker of testosterone concentration and may be a new tool for confirming hypogonadism, according to Italian investigators.
A team led by Mario Maggi, MD, of the University of Florence, studied 2,967 men attending a sexual dysfunction unit and who had PSA levels below 4 ng/mL and no history of prostate disease. Their analysis showed that PSA levels predicted severe hypogonadism (testosterone levels below 8 nmol/L), with PSA levels below 0.65 ng/mL providing the best sensitivity and specificity (65.2% and 55.5%, respectively), the researchers reported online in The Journal of Sexual Medicine. Of the entire cohort, 254 men (8.6%) had severe hypogonadism, and 141 of them (or 4.8% of the 2,967 subjects) had a PSA level below 0.65 ng/mL.
After adjusting for age, low PSA was associated with hypogonadism-related features, such as delayed puberty and lower testis volume, and associated conditions, such as metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases.
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