Relations between anthropometric characteristics and androgen hormone levels in healthy young men

Inter-individual correlations between androgen hormone levels and anthropometric features were computed using data from a sample of 110 healthy young men. Radioimmunoassays were used to determine the total testosterone and dihydrotestosterone in the serum and the free testosterone in the saliva. The 58 body measures encompassed the head, trunk and extremities in terms of their length, breadth and circumference. In addition, skin-fold thicknesses were also measured. This set of features was also subjected to factor analysis; the correlations of the resulting individual factor scores with the body measurements were also determined. The total testosterone and dihydrotestosterone were found to have a number of significant correlations with the various body measures and factors, while the free testosterone did not yield any significant findings. These correlations indicate in particular that there is a relation between the serum androgens and leptomorphism (especially negative correlations to indicators of the fat development), whereas a connection between the serum androgens and masculinity is only hinted at.