Testosterone Analysis in Hair
October 2022
in “
Linköping University medical dissertations
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testosterone hair testosterone concentrations mass spectrometry immunoassays saliva testosterone concentrations hair growth rate cosmetic hair treatment natural hair color biological sex myocardial infarction cardiovascular risk factors hair testosterone mass spec immunoassay saliva testosterone hair growth hair treatment hair color sex heart attack heart disease risk
TLDR The method shows hair testosterone levels reflect those in saliva, but are affected by various factors and may indicate a risk for heart attack.
The study developed a method to analyze testosterone in hair, which can reflect average hormone concentrations in the body. The method needs to balance between high specificity, achievable with mass spectrometry, and adequate detection limits, achievable with immunoassays. The study found that hair testosterone concentrations correlate significantly with testosterone concentrations in saliva. However, hair growth rate variation within and between individuals complicates the relationship between certain hair segments and a specific time in the past. Factors such as hair washing frequency, cosmetic hair treatment, natural hair color, and biological sex affect hair testosterone concentrations. The study also found that lower concentrations of testosterone can be seen in hair samples taken shortly after a patient was admitted to hospital due to a myocardial infarction, suggesting that a reduction in testosterone concentrations occurs shortly before the heart attack, independently of other cardiovascular risk factors. Therefore, reduced testosterone concentrations could be an independent risk factor for developing an acute myocardial infarction.
