A cross-sectional pilot study to determine the prevalence of testosterone deficiency syndrome in working population of Indian men

AIM: To determine the prevalence of testosterone deficiency syndrome (TDS) in healthy Indian men employed in a hospital aged above 40 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A general medical health check-up camp was organized for all male employees above 40 years age working in surgical departments. After clinical history and systemic inquiry, subjects were requested to fill the St. Louis University's ADAM Questionnaire based on which the total and free-serum testosterone estimation was then done. RESULTS: One hundred fifty seven healthy volunteers enrolled for the study (mean age 53.1 years; range 40–60). The androgen decline in the aging male (ADAM) Questionnaire detected 106 men (67.5%) to be symptomatic for TDS. Serum testosterone estimation in these subjects revealed 41/106 to have low free-serum testosterone levels and 32/106 to have low total-serum testosterone. In 11 and 6 cases, respectively, the serum free- and total-testosterone levels were found to be low although the subjects were asymptomatic for TDS. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of symptomatic biochemical hypogonadism was 26.1%. The higher prevalence of symptoms alone of TDS was unusual. It could be because of the nature of the questionnaire. Free-serum testosterone may be a better single test to diagnose symptomatic hypogonadism than total-serum testosterone.