Introduction Androgen deficiency in aging men has attracted much medical interest. Most studies on androgen deficiency have been conducted in Caucasian populations, and data from other ethnicities are lacking. Aim To evaluate the prevalence of and risk factors for androgen deficiency and symptomatic androgen deficiency in Taiwanese men over 40 years old. Methods From August 2007 to April 2008, a free health screening was conducted by a medical center in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and 819 men participated in this health screening. All participants completed a health questionnaire, received a detailed physical examination, and blood samples were drawn between 8:00 and 12:00 am. Main Outcome Measures Serum total testosterone (TT), albumin, and sex hormone-binding globulin levels were measured. The level of free testosterone (FT) was calculated. Clinical symptoms of androgen deficiency were assessed using the Androgen Deficiency in the Aging Male (ADAM) questionnaire. Results Seven hundred thirty-four men who met the inclusion criteria (mean age 57.4 ± 6.7 years; range: 43–87 years) were included in this study. The prevalence of androgen deficiency was 24.1% based on the criterion of TT level < 300 ng/dL, and 16.6% based on the criterion of both TT < 300 ng/dL and FT < 5 ng/dL. The prevalence of symptomatic androgen deficiency was 12.0%. Both prevalence of androgen deficiency and symptomatic androgen deficiency increased with age. Older age, obesity, and diabetes mellitus were independent risk factors for androgen deficiency and symptomatic androgen deficiency. Conclusions In a sample of aging Taiwanese men, a substantial proportion had androgen deficiency and symptomatic androgen deficiency, and the prevalence increased with age. Older age, obesity, and diabetes mellitus were independent risk factors for androgen deficiency and symptomatic androgen deficiency. Those potentially modifiable risk factors like obesity and diabetes mellitus should be prevented to maintain normal testosterone levels during aging in men.

Recent genomewide association studies have identified several prostate cancer susceptibility variants. However, the association between these variants and biochemical failure in prostate cancer patients receiving radical prostatectomy has not been determined. We systematically evaluated 20 prostate cancer-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms in a cohort of 320 localized prostate cancer patients receiving radical prostatectomy. Each single-nucleotide polymorphism found to be associated with the recurrence of prostate-specific antigen was further analyzed by Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox regression model. Three prostate cancer susceptibility single-nucleotide polymorphisms (rs1447295 at 8q24, rs7920517 and rs10993994 at 10q11) were associated with prostate-specific antigen recurrence (P < 0.02). Of these, rs7920517 and rs10993994, which were in strong linkage disequilibrium (r 2 = 0.91), also showed significant associations with poor prostate-specific antigen-free survival following radical prostatectomy (log-rank test; P < 0.01). The associations remained significant in our multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis after adjusting for other clinicopathologic risk covariates (P < 0.01). In conclusion, loci associated with risk for prostate cancer, such as rs7920517 and rs10993994, might also be used to predict the recurrence of prostate-specific antigen in prostate cancer patients receiving radical prostatectomy.