Abstract
Introduction: Testosterone is not just a “male sex hormone” but a biomolecule with a broad spectrum of demonstrated physiological functions as well as a wide variety of physiological and pathophysiological associations about which we are just learning. The level of testosterone impacts the general well-being and outcomes of individuals and populations. Consequently, testosterone levels influence disparity in health outcomes and its variation is determined by gender, age, and racial differences. There is however, a dearth of empirical evidence regarding whether there are geographical variations in the level of testosterone and whether this variation is associated with ill health in different African populations. The current study therefore, elucidated the documented levels of testosterone in African populations. Methodology: A systematic search was conducted following the PRISMA guidelines, with a combination of terms including ‘testosterone’ and nationality/ancestry descriptors. The search included studies from the last 10 years using databases including Google Scholar, Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, EBSCOHost, and ProQuest. Results: We identified 64 eligible peer-reviewed original research publications across Africa on the levels of testosterone in health and several diseases including erectile dysfunction, obesity, and drug use. Changes of plasma total testosterone (ng/dL) from control to case were evaluated; more often, regardless of region, testosterone levels for case groups were lowered, as was the case in patients with diabetes mellitus. Although, this did not hold true for every study like one for hepatitis and benign prostate hyperplasia in which levels rose for the case group. Variations across countries were evaluated. Studies from Morocco reported the least levels of testosterone, following South Africa and Tunisia with levels nearing 3.9 ng/ml. In the middle of the spectrum was Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Egypt, with levels nearing 6 ng/dl. Ethiopia had the highest levels of testosterone nearing 7.9 ng/ml. Further, the variation based on African region suggests there is no statistically significant difference between the reported levels of testosterone across North, South, West, and East Africa (p-value of 0.7804).
Nevertheless, the data suggests variation in the level of testosterone across African populations. Conclusion: It is hoped that our findings will provide biological evidence for the physiological dissimilarity among Black populations and the impact of such differences on disease risk.
Citation Format: Cristina Orozco, Solomon Rotimi. A systematic review of testosterone status and ill health across African populations [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Conference: Thirteenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2020 Oct 2-4. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(12 Suppl):Abstract nr PO-194.
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