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Association of cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity with sex steroid hormone levels in US men

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Abstract

Background

We evaluated the associations of smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity with sex steroid hormone concentrations among 1,275 men ≥20 years old who participated in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III).

Methods

Serum concentrations of testosterone, estradiol, and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) were measured. We compared geometric mean concentrations across levels of smoking, alcohol, and physical activity using multiple linear regression.

Results

Current smokers had higher total testosterone (5.42, 5.10, and 5.26 ng/ml in current, former, and never smokers), free testosterone (0.110, 0.102, and 0.104 ng/ml), total estradiol (40.0, 34.5, and 33.5 pg/ml), and free estradiol (1.05, 0.88, and 0.84 pg/ml) compared with former and never smokers (all p ≤ 0.05). Men who consumed ≥1 drink/day had lower SHBG than men who drank less frequently (31.5 vs. 34.8 nmol/l, p = 0.01); total (p-trend = 0.08) and free testosterone (p-trend = 0.06) increased with number of drinks per day. Physical activity was positively associated with total (p-trend = 0.01) and free testosterone (p-trend = 0.05).

Conclusions

In this nationally representative sample of men, smoking, alcohol, and physical activity were associated with hormones and SHBG, thus these factors should be considered as possible confounders or upstream variables in studies of hormones and men’s health, including prostate cancer.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Gary Bradwin in Dr. Rifai’s laboratory. This is the seventh paper from the Hormone Demonstration Program funded by the Maryland Cigarette Restitution Fund at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Selvin was supported by NIH/NIDDK Grant K01 DK076595. Ms. Shiels was supported by the National Institutes of Health National Research Service Award T32 CA009314.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N. Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD, 21205, USA

    Meredith S. Shiels, Andy Menke, Elizabeth Selvin, Manning Feinleib, Eliseo Guallar & Elizabeth A. Platz

  2. Division of Cancer Epidemiology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany

    Sabine Rohrmann

  3. The Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Andy Menke, Elizabeth Selvin & Eliseo Guallar

  4. School of Community Health, Portland State University, Portland, OR, USA

    Carlos J. Crespo

  5. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Nader Rifai

  6. Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Adrian Dobs

  7. The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Adrian Dobs & Elizabeth A. Platz

  8. The James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Elizabeth A. Platz

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  1. Meredith S. Shiels
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Correspondence to Elizabeth A. Platz.

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Shiels, M.S., Rohrmann, S., Menke, A. et al. Association of cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and physical activity with sex steroid hormone levels in US men. Cancer Causes Control 20, 877–886 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10552-009-9318-y

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