Association between sex hormone levels and leukoaraiosis (LA) in older Korean men

LA, altered white matter signal intensities seen on MR brain scans, has been shown to be associated with cerebrovascular risk factors and microangiopathy. Although the cerebrovascular system is also a target for sex hormones, little is known about the association between the two. In this study, we investigated the association between male sex hormone levels and LA in old men by examining free testosterone index (FTI), total testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), and LA in 342 Korean men (aged 50–80 years). The odds ratios (ORs) for LA were calculated using multivariate logistic regression. The ORs (95% CIs) for LA were 1.06 (1.01–1.10) for FTI, 1.01 (0.93–1.10) for total testosterone, and 0.97 (0.94–1.01) for SHBG after adjusting for age, smoking status, alcohol intake, regular exercise, BMI, mean arterial blood pressure, resting heart rate, white blood cell counts, fasting plasma glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-cholesterol, hypertension medications, diabetes medications, and hyperlipidemia medications. The results of this study indicate that high FTI is independently associated with greater prevalence of LA in older men. Accordingly, a higher FTI may be an additional surrogate marker in assessing LA.