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Landmark Study Defines Normal Ranges for Testosterone Levels

If your T is too low, your physician might consider testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), depending on your age and overall health. They might also discuss introducing testosterone-boosting supplements and adjusting your lifestyle to better support testosterone production. Table 3 describes the distribution of harmonized reference ranges by decades of age in nonobese men.

“Many studies [that look at testosterone levels] take an amount of people across these ages and test them for their T levels,” says McDevitt. The researchers don’t factor in pre-existing conditions or peoples’ lifestyles, which can skew the results, she notes. A combination of age, genetics, and pre-existing medical conditions determines your testosterone levels.

Testosterone replacement therapy doesn’t stimulate the body’s production of testosterone, however, therapy does increase testosterone allowing men to turn back the clock and feel stronger, more energetic, and more youthful. In most young men, testosterone production reaches its maximum at about age 17, and levels remain high for the next two to three decades. On average, healthy young men produce about six milligrams of testosterone a day. A normal testosterone level for adult men is around 8.7–29 nmol/L (250–836 ng/dL). Most UK laboratories will use reference intervals similar to this.

However, there’s no official consensus on healthy testosterone levels. According to the American Urological Association (AUA), healthy male testosterone levels range between 450 and 600 ng/dL, and low testosterone is below 300 ng/dL. The two charts below list the general normal ranges of testosterone based on age and sex. Testosterone is a hormone that your gonads (testicles or ovaries) mainly produce. If testosterone levels are too high or too low, it can cause certain symptoms.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which means you can’t verify what they’re made with or whether they’re safe, even if they come with a celebrity endorsement. Some testosterone supplements have been shown to cause health conditions such as erectile dysfunction and kidney failure. Test results may vary depending on your age, gender, health history, and other things. The pituitary gland in your brain controls the amount of testosterone your body makes. It does this by using other signaling hormones such as luteinizing hormone. Initial consultations usually range from $100 how to get rid of toxic testosterone $500, while diagnostic testing might add $500 to $1,000. Ongoing treatment costs, which include medications and follow-up appointments, typically add up to $1,200 to $3,000 annually.

Bootstrapping was used to quantify uncertainty in the estimates of these associations. Additionally, Bland–Altman analyses were used to assess the degree to which differences between local and central measurements tracked with the level of testosterone concentrations. Each of the normalizing transformations was then applied to local testosterone measurements obtained from the corresponding cohort. Harmonization procedure reduced intercohort variation between testosterone measurements in men of similar ages. In healthy nonobese men, 19 to 39 years, harmonized 2.5th, 5th, 50th, 95th, and 97.5th percentile values were 264, 303, 531, 852, and 916 ng/dL, respectively. Age-specific harmonized testosterone concentrations in nonobese men were similar across cohorts and greater than in all men.

In addition, it’s important to talk to your doctor about the potential risks of TRT, which include prostate enlargement, greater risk of blood clots, and poor cardiovascular health. The symptoms of low testosterone (sometimes called “low-T”) reflect the role that the hormone plays in your body. As testosterone is essential for your fertility, energy levels, and muscle and bone strength, low-T can impact these areas of your health. Other TRT options include topical cream or gels, troches (dissolvable oral lozenges), patches.

While we often focus on deficiencies, testosterone can sometimes be high. Elevated testosterone levels may indicate an underlying medical condition that increases the amount of circulating testosterone in the body. However, some men may have naturally high levels of testosterone without any concerning symptoms. Your doctor can do a physical examination and assess your health situation and symptoms to determine if further laboratory tests are needed to check hormone levels. Those tests may be important if you have a health condition such as PCOS or have stopped menstruating because of excessive athletic training or anorexia nervosa.

The average doctor will tell him that his levels are completely normal when his blood results come back within range. The top 5% of men at the top and bottom of the range are excluded as they’re deemed ‘too high’ or ‘too low’. The male sex hormone uses the bloodstream to travel around the body, so blood tests provide an accurate representation of the amount of testosterone in your system. You can take a finger prick test at home, or a nurse or doctor can take your blood sample from a vein.

Your doctors will also look for a deeper voice and beard growth as signs of getting your testosterone back on track. Even if your testosterone levels are below the recommended range, you still might not have to worry. Doctors say that a reading between 200 and 300 ng/dL is sort of a gray area. Patients who are on long-acting IM testosterone (testosterone undecanoate) should have blood work tested once steady state levels have been achieved. Testosterone undecanoate is typically re-administered at a time point 4 weeks after initial dosing and then every 10 weeks thereafter. As with short-acting IM testosterone injections, the general recommendation is mid-cycle testing, after equilibration, and halfway between the first two 10-week injections.