Low Testosterone Levels in Aging Men and Its Consequences

As you probably know, sex hormone in women is declining with age. Men also experiencing the same, even though the declining rate is not as steep drop like women menopause. But the effect is substantial in well being and fertility. Until recent years, there has been a lot concern about the subject of testosterone levels in men. Andropause as the name suggest, is declining 1% per year of testosterone levels hormone for men age over 30 years. This significantly put those men group in risk of having disease-syndromes related to andropause.

There have been a lot of studies regarding the relation of elderly men and low testosterone levels. The studies have been focusing in mean values of serum testosterone. Some investigations have documenting what most scientists believe that older men have lower concentrations of total testosterone. There also study concentrating in the rate of decline in serum testosterone level. Some interesting study by Feldman find out that declining rate in men with chronic diseases illness, alcoholism, lifestyle and obesity, prescription medications, and prostate cancer in the same rate with healthy men.

So how many men are having the risks of declining of testosterone level? In the United States alone, it is expected between 2 and 5 millions men are having the risk of hypogonadism. It is medical term for measurement of serum total of testosterone level below 325 ng per deciliter in body. But what more alarming facts are that only about 6% of those men with hypogonadism are being treated for the low testosterone level related diseases. Hypogonadism is known and associated with loss of muscle mass and musculoskeleteal frailty, erectile dysfunction, weight gain, declining cognitive function.

There were some popular hypogonadism treatment or low level of serum testosterone in recent years. Most of them are focusing on hormone replacement therapy and stimulate testosterone reproduction. This kind of treatment has resulted in increasing sales prescription testosterone products more than five times since 1992 after this treatment has been recommended by scientists. Well it is with some dangers and risks. Improper usage and abuse for this medical can result in risk of prostate problems, blood pressure disease disorders and high possibility of infertility among drug users.

It is widely known that serum testosterone levels are going down as process of aging; however, it demands to be explored if there are subsets of men with lower serum testosterone levels at an earlier age. Varicocele symptoms are a well-established condition causing infertility. Varicoceles affect sperm function, and several researches suggest that they may contribute to testicular dysfunction symptoms and induce a subhypogonadal or hypogonadal state. Several experiments in animal have shown an association between varicoceles symptoms and inclination of serum testosterone biosynthesis. However, such researches in humans have not shown as strong an association. It is reported that infertile males with varicoceles have a mean serum testosterone level that is within the limits of normal. Yet, it is reported that mean serum testosterone was substantially decreased in male infertility patients with varicoceles compared to controls.

Some observation by comparing younger men and older men indicate some progressive local damage to testicular function symptoms in group with lower testosterone levels. Previous studies advise that several mechanisms may account for the testicular dysfunction associated with varicoceles. Both intra-scrotal and intra testicular temperatures are higher in men with varicoceles compared to controls. However, not all investigators have found an association between higher intra testicular temperatures and varicoceles. As a result, nonthermal mechanisms have been suggested to account for the effect of a varicocele on testicular function; reflux of renal and adrenal metabolites from the renal vein, decreased blood pressure, and hypoxia have all been postulated, and there is substantial evidence that smoking augments varicocele-induced testicular dysfunction symptoms. It is now accepted that infertility in the varicocele patient may be multifactorial, and the associated testicular symptoms dysfunction appears to worsen with age. It is reported that varicoceles have a progressive effect on semen quality, which has also been reported by other studies.

Even though there is plenty evidence that varicoceles are linked with lower semen quality over time, there is limited data available discussing the progressive effect that clinical varicoceles have on testosterone status. For this reason, further studies need to explore this trend as it may lead to hypogonadism in a substantial population of men. Additionally, it is worthwhile to investigate whether treatment of the varicocele can benefit in increasing testosterone levels in these hypogonadal men.