Testosterone and the Ageing Man

Testosterone is the hormone required for men to feel …..

Some of the following points may surprise you:

More sexual activity has a positive effect (james) on a man’s testosterone levels.

Testosterone levels in healthy men are generally stable with/despite(james) increasing age.

Said another way:

‘Ageing has only a minuscule effect on testosterone levels in men’.

A recent study (1) calculated the average decline in serum testosterone in men to be

0.5% per year – lower than has been previously claimed (0.8-2% per year).

A decline in healthy mens’ testosterone levels is only particularly marked after the age of 80 years.

A reduction of testosterone levels in men is associated with

co-morbidities (co-existing health problems) such as:

And also:

Loss of a spouse/unmarried men(??james)/social defeat/recent fatherhood
Heavy alcohol intake
Severe disruption to sleep patterns
Short stature (an unexpected finding)
Some drugs – e.g.1) opioids and 2) certain statins (cholesterol lowering drugs) particularly atorvastatin
Stopping smoking – please don’t think this is a good reason to keep smoking. Apart from causing damage to many parts of the body and increasing the risks of many cancers, smoking also has long term and DIRECT negative effects on erections – look for my next blog ‘Smoking and Erections’

Further research is required to understand the role that ‘co-morbidities’ play in the levels of testosterone in men as they age.

References:

Age-specific population centiles for androgen status in men

D J Handelsman, B B Yeap, L Flicker, S Martin, G A Wittert and Lam P Ly

European Journal of Endocrinology (2015) 173, 809-817.

Longitudinal Changes in Testosterone Over Five Years in Community-Dwelling Men

The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism

Published Online June 17 2013

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