Circulating sex hormones in relation to anthropometric, sociodemographic and behavioural factors in an international dataset of 12,300 men.

PLoS One. 2017 Dec 27;12(12):e0187741. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0187741. eCollection 2017. Watts EL1, Appleby PN1, Albanes D2, Black A2, Chan JM3,4, Chen C5, Cirillo PM6, Cohn BA6, Cook MB2, Donovan JL7, Ferrucci L8, Garland CF9, Giles GG10,11, Goodman PJ12, Habel LA13, Haiman CA14, Holly JMP15, Hoover RN2, Kaaks R16, Knekt P17, Kolonel LN18, Kubo T19, Le Marchand L18, Luostarinen T20, MacInnis RJ10,11, Mäenpää HO21, Männistö S17, Metter EJ22, Milne RL10,11, Nomura AMY23, Oliver SE24, Parsons JK25, Peeters PH26,27, Platz EA28, Riboli E29, Ricceri F30,31, Rinaldi S32, Rissanen H17, Sawada N33, Schaefer CA13, Schenk JM34, Stanczyk FZ35, Stampfer M36,37, Stattin P38, Stenman UH39, Tjønneland A40, Trichopoulou A41,42, Thompson IM43, Tsugane S33, Vatten L44, Whittemore AS45,46, Ziegler RG2, Allen NE47, Key TJ1, Travis RC1. Author information 1 Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom. 2 Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, U.S. National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, United States of America. 3 Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States of America. 4 Department of Urology, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States of America. 5 Program in Epidemiology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, United States of America. 6 Child Health and Development Studies, Public Health Institute, Berkeley, CA, United States of America. 7 School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom. 8 Intramural Research Program, National Institute on Aging, Bethesda, MD, United States of America. 9 Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, University of California, San Diego, CA, United States of America. 10 Cancer Epidemiology Centre, Cancer Council Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 11 Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. 12 SWOG Statistical Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, United States of America. 13 Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, CA, United States of America. 14 Department of Preventive Medicine, Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America. 15 School of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Health Science, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom. 16 Division of Cancer Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg, Germany. 17 Department of Health, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland. 18 University of Hawaii Cancer Center, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, United States of America. 19 Department of Public Health, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Kitakyushu, Japan. 20 Finnish Cancer Registry, Institute for Statistical and Epidemiological Cancer Research, Helsinki, Finland. 21 Department of Oncology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. 22 Department of Neurology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, United States of America. 23 Japan-Hawaii Cancer Study, Kuakini Medical Center, Honolulu, HI, United States of America. 24 Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York, United Kingdom. 25 Division of Urologic Oncology, University of California San Diego Moores Cancer Center, San Diego, CA, United States of America. 26 Department of Epidemiology, Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Netherlands. 27 MRC-PHE Centre for Environment and Health, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College, London, United Kingdom. 28 Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United States of America. 29 School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom. 30 Department of Clinical and Biological Sciences, University of Turin, Orbassano, Italy. 31 Unit of Epidemiology, Regional Health Service ASL TO3, Grugliasco, Italy. 32 Biomarkers Group, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France. 33 Epidemiology and Prevention Group, Center for Public Health Sciences, National Cancer Center, Tokyo, Japan. 34 Cancer Prevention Program, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, United States of America. 35 Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America. 36 Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology, Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States of America. 37 The Channing Division of Network Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States of America. 38 Department of Surgical and Perioperative Sciences, Urology and Andrology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. 39 Department of Clinical Chemistry, Medicum, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. 40 Department of Diet, Genes and Environment, The Danish Cancer Society Research Center, Copenhagen, Denmark. 41 Hellenic Health Foundation, Athens, Greece. 42 WHO Collaborating Center for Nutrition and Health, Unit of Nutritional Epidemiology and Nutrition in Public Health, Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. 43 CHRISTUS Medical Center Hospital, San Antonio, TX, United States of America. 44 Department of Public Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. 45 Department of Health Research and Policy, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, United States of America. 46 Department of Biomedical Data Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States of America. 47 Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom. Abstract INTRODUCTION: Sex hormones have been implicated in the etiology of a number of diseases. To better understand disease etiology and the mechanisms of disease-risk factor associations, this analysis aimed to investigate the associations of anthropometric, sociodemographic and behavioural factors with a range of circulating sex hormones and sex hormone-binding globulin. METHODS: Statistical analyses of individual participant data from 12,330 male controls aged 25-85 years from 25 studies involved in the Endogenous Hormones Nutritional Biomarkers and Prostate Cancer Collaborative Group. Analysis of variance was used to estimate geometric means adjusted for study and relevant covariates. RESULTS: Older age was associated with higher concentrations of sex hormone-binding globulin and dihydrotestosterone and lower concentrations of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, free testosterone, androstenedione, androstanediol glucuronide and free estradiol. Higher body mass index was associated with higher concentrations of free estradiol, androstanediol glucuronide, estradiol and estrone and lower concentrations of dihydrotestosterone, testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin, free testosterone, androstenedione and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate. Taller height was associated with lower concentrations of androstenedione, testosterone, free testosterone and sex hormone-binding globulin and higher concentrations of androstanediol glucuronide. Current smoking was associated with higher concentrations of androstenedione, sex hormone-binding globulin and testosterone. Alcohol consumption was associated with higher concentrations of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, androstenedione and androstanediol glucuronide. East Asians had lower concentrations of androstanediol glucuronide and African Americans had higher concentrations of estrogens. Education and marital status were modestly associated with a small number of hormones. CONCLUSION: Circulating sex hormones in men are strongly associated with age and body mass index, and to a lesser extent with smoking status and alcohol consumption.