Senior Citizen Men Get Depressed from Low Free
Testosterone Level
Testosterone supplement may contribute to successful
treatment
March 3, 2008 – Women have a greater tendency than
men to become depressed – at least until the members of both sex become
senior citizens. At age 65 men catch up with women and scientists have
long suspected it has something to do with testosterone. A new study
pins the cause clearly on lower levels of free testosterone.
There were 3,987 men age 71 to 89 years in the
study by Osvaldo P. Almeida, M.D., Ph.D., F.R.A.N.Z.C.P., of the
University of Western Australia, Perth, and his colleagues.
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Depression affects between two percent and five
percent of the population at any given time, according to background
information in the article in the March issue of Archives of General
Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Between 2001 and 2004, the men in the study
completed a questionnaire reporting information about demographics and
health history. They underwent testing for depression and cognitive
(thinking, learning and memory) difficulties, and information about
physical health conditions was obtained from a short survey and an
Australian health database.
The researchers collected blood samples from the
participants and recorded levels of total testosterone and free
testosterone, which is not bound to proteins.
A total of 203 of the participants (5.1 percent)
met criteria for depression; these men had significantly lower total and
free testosterone levels then men who were not depressed.
Testosterone is produced in the testes, which also
produce sperm. Most of the testosterone binds with protein but some
circulates freely in the bloodstream. Men normally produce less
testosterone as they age and previous studies have shown that older men
have lower levels of this free testosterone than younger men.
After controlling for other factors - such as
education level, body mass index and cognitive scores - men in the
lowest quintile (20 percent) of free testosterone concentration had
three times the odds of having depression compared to men in the highest
quintile.
The mechanism by which low hormone levels might
affect depression risk has not been identified, but might involve
changes in the levels of neurotransmitters or hormones in the brain, the
authors note.
“A randomized controlled trial is required to
determine whether reducing prolonged exposure to low free testosterone
is associated with a reduction in the prevalence of depression in
elderly men,” the authors write.
“If so, older men with depression may benefit from
systematic screening of free testosterone concentration, and
testosterone supplementation may contribute to the successful treatment
of hypogonadal [with low hormone levels] older men with depression.”
Editor's Note: This study was supported by
project grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council of
Australia. Biochemical analyses were funded by a Sylvia and Charles
Viertel Charitable Foundation Clinical Investigator Award.
