Serum testosterone levels in male COPD patients.

Under the clinical impression that COPD is associated with low testosterone levels, we investigated this association. We selected 100 male COPD patients and categorized them according to GOLD criteria. Serum testosterone levels of these patients were measured. We sought a significant association between severe COPD and testosterone levels. 34 of the 100 patients had low testosterone levels.The conclusions of our study were i) patients in GOLD stage IV had higher probability of having low testosterone levels ii) Patients had higher risk of low testosterone levels with decreased oxygen saturation iii) Patients showed a tendency of decreasing BMI with increasing severity iv) Patients on long term glucocorticoid treatment had higher chances of having low testosterone levels. Thus low testosterone levels are frequent in COPD with increasing severity. Testosterone replacement therapy has already been tried in this setting. Further studies are required before routine recommendations can be made