Visceral fat dysfunction is positively associated with hypogonadism in Chinese men

Visceral adiposity index (VAI) well mirrors visceral fat dysfunction. No study explored the association between low androgen and VAI. We aimed to determine whether VAI was associated with hypogonadism and sex hormones, and also whether it better predicted hypogonadism than other obesity indices. Our data were collected from 16 sites in East China. 2,759 men were enrolled. Hypogonadism was defined as total testosterone < 11.3 nmol/L. VAI was calculated in male: (waist circumference/(39.68 + (1.88 × BMI)) × (triglycerides/1.03) × (1.31/HDL). 484 (17.5%) hypogonadal men had significantly higher VAI. After adjusting for age, smoking, neck and hip circumference, diabetes and hypertension, VAI was inversely associated with total testosterone, estradiol and SHBG (P < 0.01). Higher quartiles of VAI were associated with significantly increasing odds of hypogonadism (P for trend < 0.01). The fully adjusted odds ratio was 5.88 (95 CI% 4.09, 8.46) for the highest quartile compared with the lowest quartile of VAI. Among all the indices investigated, VAI showed the largest area under the curve (P < 0.001). In conclusion, the VAI was significantly associated with a higher prevalence of hypogonadism in Chinese men. VAI also best predicted hypogonadism among obesity indices (waist, hip and neck circumference, BMI, waist-hip ratio and body adiposity index).