The imbalance of sex-hormones related to depressive symptoms in obese men

Abstract

Obese men may present hypogonadothrofic hypogonadism, mainly related to higher insulinemia and aromatase activity. Our objectives were to evaluate the relationship of sex-hormones profiles and frequency of depressive symptoms in 43 obese men, in a cross-sectional study. They had 19-60 years, and body mass index 30-50kg/m(2). LH, total and free testosterone (TT and FT), estradiol (E-2), sex hormone binding globulin, estradiol/total testosterone ratio (E-2/T) were analyzed. Depressive symptoms were evaluated by beck depression inventory (BDI), and significant depression was considered if BDI16.Thirty-four (80%) presented low TT levels, but only 4 (14%) had low free testosterone and hypogonadism symptoms

12 of 43 (28%) presented increased E-2. Forty five (56%) presented depressive symptoms, but 16 (28% of the 45) had significant depression. BDI correlated positively with E-2 (r=0.407

p=0.001) and E-2/T (r=0.473

p=0.001), but not TT or FT. Patients with significant depressive showed higher levels of estradiol (136 +/- 48 versus 103 +/- 48pg/ml, p=0.02) and E-2/T (16.0 +/- 9.9 versus 9.8 +/- 4.6

p=0.002) (mean +/- SD).In conclusion, obese men may present relatively excess of estradiol and deficiency in testosterone, leading to an imbalance between these two hormones. The greater this imbalance, the more depressive symptoms had our patients.