A blood test taken years before cancer appears may hold a warning sign for men’s long-term health.
A large international study found that men with very low testosterone were more likely to be diagnosed with cancer and more likely to die from it later in life. The link was broad, but it came with an important exception: prostate cancer did not follow the same pattern.
The findings come from the Androgens In Men Study (AIMS), led by Professor Bu Yeap of The University of Western Australia. Published in Lancet Healthy Longevity, the research analyzed data from more than 26,000 men across 11 long-running studies in Australia, the United States, and Europe.
What the Hormone Analysis Revealed
Instead of relying on a single snapshot of health, researchers looked back at blood samples taken earlier in life and compared hormone levels with cancer outcomes recorded over many years. They measured testosterone, dihydrotestosterone (DHT), sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), and luteinizing hormone, which is made by the pituitary gland and helps signal the testes to produce testosterone.
“We wanted to know whether the concentration of these hormones in the blood was related to the risk of men being diagnosed with, or dying from, cancer into the future,” Professor Yeap said.
The clearest signal involved men whose testosterone levels were in the lowest one-fifth of the study group. Compared with men in the highest one-fifth, they had an 18 percent higher risk of dying from cancer.
“What we saw was that if a man had low testosterone levels—in the lowest one-fifth compared to the highest one-fifth of the range—their subsequent risk of dying from cancer was higher, even after allowing for age and other health-related factors.”
Low Testosterone May Be a Health Warning Sign
That does not mean testosterone is necessarily causing cancer, and it does not mean testosterone therapy would prevent it. A more likely takeaway is that very low testosterone may be a marker of poorer overall health, reduced physical resilience, metabolic problems, chronic illness, or other hidden risks that become important later.
Professor Yeap said healthy young men typically have testosterone levels between 10 and 30 nanomoles per liter (nmol/L). Levels often fall with age, but they can also be shaped by body weight, physical activity, diabetes, and other medical conditions.
“We saw that when baseline testosterone was below 8.6 nmol/L, subsequent cancer risk started increasing,” Professor Yeap said.
“This suggests low testosterone is an important biomarker, so it’s possible that looking at testosterone levels could help us identify men who might do poorly if they get cancer down the track.”
Why Prostate Cancer Was Different
The prostate cancer result may be the most surprising part of the study.
“Since reducing testosterone levels is a treatment for prostate cancer, there’s always been a question of whether the amount of testosterone your own body makes relates to your risk of prostate cancer, but based on our findings, there’s no evidence they are related,” Professor Yeap said.
Instead, prostate cancer risk was higher among men with lower levels of SHBG and luteinizing hormone. That finding points to a more complicated hormone picture than a simple “more testosterone equals more prostate cancer” idea.
What Men Should Do Next
Professor Yeap said men should not treat the findings as a reason to start taking testosterone supplements.
“What we would say to men is if they are found for whatever reason to be low in testosterone, it’s important to go to the doctor for a full checkup. It may not show any sign of testicular disease, but it might show other health issues or risk factors they need to address.
“It could be a wake-up call and encouragement for men to engage in more healthy lifestyle behaviors and to get regular, holistic checkups to stay on top of their health.”
Reference: “Associations of testosterone, sex hormone-binding globulin, and related hormones with risks of cancer death, incident cancer, and incident prostate cancer in men: individual participant data meta-analyses” by Ross J Marriott, Kevin Murray, Leen Antonio, Robert J Adams, Christie M Ballantyne, Douglas C Bauer, Shalender Bhasin, Mary L Biggs, Peggy M Cawthon, David J Couper, Adrian S Dobs, Leon Flicker, Nele Friedrich, David J Handelsman, Graeme J Hankey, Anke Hannemann, Calvin H Hirsch, Benjumin Hsu, Sean A Martin, Alvin M Matsumoto and Bu B Yeap, 19 June 2026, The Lancet Healthy Longevity.
DOI: 10.1016/j.lanhl.2026.100857
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