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Testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, and incident cardiovascular disease and mortality in the cardiovascular health study.

CONTEXT
Low testosterone (T) is associated with prevalent cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mortality. DHT, a more potent androgen, may also be associated with CVD and mortality, but few studies have examined this.


OBJECTIVE
The study objective was to examine whether T and DHT are risk factors for incident CVD and mortality.


DESIGN
In a longitudinal cohort study, we evaluated whether total T, calculated free T (cFT), DHT, and calculated free DHT were associated with incident CVD and mortality in men in the Cardiovascular Health Study (mean age 76, range 66-97 years) who were free of CVD at the time of blood collection.


MAIN OUTCOME
The main outcomes were incident CVD and all-cause mortality.


RESULTS
Among 1032 men followed for a median of 9 years, 436 incident CVD events and 777 deaths occurred. In models adjusted for cardiovascular risk factors, total T and cFT were not associated with incident CVD or all-cause mortality, whereas DHT and calculated free DHT had curvilinear associations with incident CVD (P < .002 and P = .04, respectively) and all-cause mortality (P < .001 for both).


CONCLUSIONS
In a cohort of elderly men, DHT and calculated free DHT were associated with incident CVD and all-cause mortality. Further studies are needed to confirm these results and to clarify the underlying physiologic mechanisms.