Association of Sex Hormones and Fat Distribution in Men with Different Obese and Metabolic Statuses

Ying-Hui Zhou; Yue Guo; Fang Wang; Ci-La Zhou; Chen-Yi Tang; Hao-Neng Tang; De-Wen Yan; Hou-De Zhou

doi:10.2147/IJGM.S351282

Association of Sex Hormones and Fat Distribution in Men with Different Obese and Metabolic Statuses

Int J Gen Med. 2022 Feb 9:15:1225-1238. doi: 10.2147/IJGM.S351282. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Ying-Hui Zhou^#¹, Yue Guo^#^{1

2}, Fang Wang^#³, Ci-La Zhou¹, Chen-Yi Tang¹, Hao-Neng Tang⁴, De-Wen Yan⁵, Hou-De Zhou¹

Affiliations

¹ National Clinical Research Center for Metabolic Diseases, Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory for Metabolic Bone Diseases, Department of Metabolism and Endocrinology, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, 410011, Hunan, People's Republic of China.
² Department of Stomatology, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, 410011, Hunan, People's Republic of China.
³ Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Heping Hospital Affiliated to Changzhi Medical College, Changzhi, Shanxi, 046000, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Department of Laboratory Medicine, The Second XiangYa Hospital of Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, People's Republic of China.
⁵ Department of Endocrinology, Shenzhen Second People's Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Purpose: Although several studies have explored the association of sex hormones with glucose metabolism, the association between sex hormones and body fat distribution, which is closely related to insulin resistance, has not been fully elucidated. We have tried to explore the relationship of testosterone (T) and estradiol (E2) with visceral adipose tissue (VAT) and subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) mass in Chinese men with different obese and metabolic statuses.

Patients and methods: A total of 128 men from the Health Management Center of the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University were collected and grouped in accordance with their obese and metabolic syndrome (MS) statuses: metabolically healthy non-overweight/obese men (MHNO), metabolically healthy overweight/obese men (MHO) and metabolically unhealthy overweight/obese men (MUO). Multiple regression analyses were performed to estimate contributions of sex hormones levels to the variations of body fat distribution and the contributions of body fat distribution to the variations of sex hormone levels.

Results: With fat mass parameters as independent variables, SAT had a strong negative association with T in MHNO (β = -2.772, P = 0.034), VAT was positively correlated with E2 in MHO (β = 22.269, P = 0.009), and SAT was negatively associated with T in MUO (β = -3.315, P = 0.010). With sex hormones as independent variables, E2 positively correlated with VAT (β = -176.259, P = 0.048), while T negatively correlated with VAT in MHO (β = 183.150, P = 0.029). In MUO, an inverse association of T with SAT was observed (β = -213.689, P = 0.021).

Conclusion: E2 and VAT had a mutual influence, thus resulting in a vicious circle, and the negative correlation between T and VAT may be related to the decrease of the MS occurrence in the MHO group. There were bi-directional relationships between sex hormones and fat distribution in men with different obese and metabolic statuses.

Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR-EOC-16010194. Retrospectively registered.

Keywords: Chinese; body fat distribution; metabolic syndrome; obesity; sex hormone.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Scientific Foundation of China [grant numbers: 82170900, 8217033609, 81770880, 81800788, 81970762], the Science & Technology Department of Hunan Province [grant numbers: 2020SK2080, 2015JC3012 and 2018SK52511] and Changsha City [grant numbers: k1906019, kq1901118], and the Open Sharing Fund for the Large-scale Instruments and Equipment of Central South University.