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Androgens in the Aging Male

Department of Endocrinology, University Hospital Ghent B 9000 Ghent, Belgium

Address requests for reprints to: A. Vermeulen, Department of Endocrinology, University Hospital Ghent, De Pintelaan 185, B 9000 Ghent, Belgium.

IN CONTRAST to the situation in women, where the menopause marks the end of the fertile period, in men fertility persists into old age. Nevertheless old age in men is accompanied by clinical signs, such as a decrease in muscle and bone mass, decrease in sexual hair growth, and decreased libido and sexual activity, suggesting decreased virility. These clinical signs are supported by histological evidence for a decreased Leydig mass and function.

Evidence for decreased plasma testosterone in elderly men

As to biochemical evidence for decreased androgenicity in elderly men, 25 yr ago the blood production rate of testosterone was reported to be decreased, which at least partially is caused by a decrease of the metabolic clearance. Whether or not aging is also associated with a decrease in plasma testosterone concentrations has long been highly controversial. Indeed, a large series of publications in the 1960s and early 1970s reporting decreased plasma testosterone concentrations in elderly

Received December 24, 1990.

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