This Article Full Text (PDF) Submit a related Letter to the Editor Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Copyright Permission Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by BLACKMAN, M. R. Articles by HARMAN, S. M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by BLACKMAN, M. R. Articles by HARMAN, S. M.

Comparison of the Effects of Lung Cancer, Benign Lung Disease, and Normal Aging on Pituitary-Gonadal Function in Men

Departments of Medicine, Francis Scott Key Medical Center and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and the Endocrinology Section, Laboratory of Clinical Physiology, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health Baltimore, Maryland 21224
the Molecular, Cellular, and Nutritional Endocrinology Branch, National Institute on Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health Bethesda, Maryland 20892

Address requests for reprints to: Dr. Marc R. Blackman, Gerontology Research Center, Room 2B-20,4940 Eastern Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21224.

We retrospectively determined serum total testosterone (T), fraction of T bound, free T index, LH, and FSH levels in 122 men with malignant lung disease, 32 men with benign lung disease, and 106 normal men. Men with malignant and, to a lesser extent, benign lung disease had decreased serum total T and free T index values at the 5th percentiles, with elevations of LH and FSH levels at the 95th percentiles. Linear regression analysis showed reductions in total T and free T index and increases in FSH, but not LH, levels with age in each group. Using multivariate analysis, we found stronger independent effects of disease than age on serum total T and fraction of T bound, but a greater influence of age on free T index. Serum LH values differed by diagnosis, whereas FSH differed by age. Relative to values in the normal men, mean serum total T levels were reduced in men with lung cancer; the fraction of T bound was decreased in the men with lung cancer and increased in the men with benign lung disease, the free T index was decreased in the men with both malignant and benign lung disease, and LH was increased in the men with lung cancer. The hormone and hormone binding results were similar in men with different types of lung cancer. Biochemical evidence of primary and secondary (or combined primary and secondary) hypogonadism was present in 50-59% and 28-32%, respectively, of the men with malignant and benign lung disease vs. 10% of the normal men. These data suggest that 1) there is an increased prevalence of both pituitary gonadotropic and testicular dysfunction in men with malignant and, to a lesser extent, benign chronic lung disease, and 2) the effects of illness are independent of, and quantitatively greater than, those due to age.

Received April 29, 1987.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. M. Matsumoto Andropause: Clinical Implications of the Decline in Serum Testosterone Levels With Aging in Men J. Gerontol. A Biol. Sci. Med. Sci., February 1, 2002; 57(2): M76 - 99. [Full Text]

				S. M. Harman, E. J. Metter, J. D. Tobin, J. Pearson, and M. R. Blackman Longitudinal Effects of Aging on Serum Total and Free Testosterone Levels in Healthy Men J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab., February 1, 2001; 86(2): 724 - 731. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				M. S. Katz Geriatrics Grand Rounds: Eve's Rib, or a Revisionist View of Osteoporosis in Men J. Gerontol. A Biol. Sci. Med. Sci., October 1, 2000; 55(10): 560M - 569. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				H. C. Margolese The Male Menopause and Mood: Testosterone Decline and Depression in the Aging Male--Is There a Link? J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol, July 1, 2000; 13(2): 93 - 101. [Abstract] [PDF]

				J. D. Veldhuis, Ali Iranmanesh, Thomas Mulligan, and Steven M. Pincus Disruption of the Young-Adult Synchrony between Luteinizing Hormone Release and Oscillations in Follicle-Stimulating Hormone, Prolactin, and Nocturnal Penile Tumescence (NPT) in Healthy Older Men J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab., October 1, 1999; 84(10): 3498 - 3505. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]