15 Months of Treatment with Long Acting Testosterone Undecanoate (Nebido) Improves Features of the Metabolic Syndrome
Saad, F(1, 2); Gooren, L(3); Haider, A(4); Yassin, A(2, 5)
(1)Bayer-Schering, Berlin, Germany (2)Gulf Medical College, Ajman, UAE (3)VUmc, Amsterdam, Netherlands (4)Bremerhaven, Germany (5)Segeberger Kliniken, Norderstedt, Germany
Introduction: Numerous studies report that the metabolic syndrome in men is associated with low plasma testosterone. The aim of this study was to determine whether testosterone treatment improves features of the metabolic syndrome in hypogonadal men. Methods: Elderly male patients (n=28; mean age = 61 years; mean plasma testosterone = 2.07 ± 0.05 ng/ml) with late onset hypogonadism were treated for 15 months with long acting testosterone undecanoate (Nebido). Testosterone undecanoate (1000mg) was administered intra-muscularly at weeks 0, 6 and thereafter every 12 weeks for 15 months. Waist circumference, blood pressure (BP), and plasma levels of testosterone, total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides, glucose, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and hemoglobin, together with liver function and hematocrit were measured at baseline and months 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15. Results: Upon treatment with long-acting testosterone undecanoate, plasma testosterone rose to the mid-normal range. Over the 15 months of the study this was associated with beneficial effects on a number of features of the metabolic syndrome: Significant reductions in waist circumference, plasma levels of total cholesterol, LDL-C and triglycerides, and a significant increase in plasma levels of HDL-C, were observed. The change in waist circumference was negatively correlated to the change in HDL-C and positively correlated to the changes in total cholesterol and LDL-C, but not triglycerides. Treatment with long-acting testosterone undecanoate also reduced blood pressure slightly. There were no observed effects on blood glucose levels, or in any of the safety parameters measured. Conclusion: Treatment with long-acting testosterone undecanoate (Nebido) over a 15 month period brought significant improvement in a number of the clinical features of the metabolic syndrome, without producing any adverse effects on safety parameters.
