A Study of Serum Testosterone and Luteinizing Hormone Levels in Patients with Low Libido at Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano, Nigeria.

Background : Low libido is considered to be the most prominent symptomatic reflection of low serum testosterone and it is unclear how frequent an individual who reported to the clinic with low libido indicates low serum testosterone levels. Objective : This study seeks to know how many of the self reported patients with low libido, have low serum testosterone or luteinizing hormone (LH) levels and whether there is an association between serum testosterone and self reported low libido in Nigerian males. Subjects and Methods: Testosterone and LH were measured in 50 middle aged male patients with low libido and 50 apparently healthy males using ELECSYS 1010 auto-analyzer. Results : Some 23.5% of the patients had abnormal hormone levels and significant decreases (p<0.001; p<0.05) were observed for testosterone and LH respectively. Low libido was associated with low testosterone levels (p<0.05) in these patients. Conclusion : Abnormal sex hormone levels were observed in about 24% of the patients and serum testosterone was associated with low libido. Male hypogonadism is under diagnosed at present, because not many of the affected patients can afford to pay for hormonal evaluations. Longitudinal community base study may highlight the true burden of the abnormalities. Keywords: Low libido, Testosterone, luteinizing hormone.