Andropause and psychopathology: minor symptoms rather than pathological ones

Abstract

This study examined the psychological symptomatology of men diagnosed with andropause and the association between calculated free testosterone (T) and depressed mood, anxiety and quality of life. Subjects were 153 men, aged 50-70 years, who participated in a screening of andropause. Total testosterone, FSH, LH and SHBG levels were measured. Depressed mood was assessed with the Carroll Rating Scale, anxiety with the "anxietyinsomnia" dimension of the General Health Questionnaire, and quality of life with the World Health Organisation Quality of Life questionnaire. The results showed that levels of free T decreased with age, whereas FSH and LH increased. Carroll Rating Scale scores were higher among hypogonadal subjects, but the mean score was low and not pathological. A negative correlation was observed between severity of depression as assessed by the Carroll Rating Scale and free T levels. However, subjects with a significant score on this scale did not exhibit different free T levels compared to subjects with a non-significant depressive score. Anxiety and quality of life did not differ between hypogonadal and eugonadal subjects. The present study therefore suggests that andropause is not characterised by specific psychological symptoms, but may be associated with "depressive symptoms" that are not considered as pathological.

Hypogonadism is associated with overt depression symptoms in men with erectile dysfunction

“…13,[27][28][29][30][31] In the present work, we analyzed the data using both the traditional cutoff of 16, as well as the more stringent cutoff of 22 recommended by Haringsma et al, 13 and found an association of hypogonadism with the more overt depression scores. This finding agrees in part only with that of Delhez et al, 32 who also found that hypogonadism was associated with depressive scores, but reported that this association was strongest in men with mild depression symptoms, as opposed to pathological cases. Because the two studies used different questionnaires, a direct comparison is not possible in the absence of clinician-verified diagnosis of depression.…”

Interest of the androgen deficiency in aging males (ADAM) questionnaire for the identification of hypogonadism in elderly community-dwelling male volunteers

“…These values are in agreement with the values previously reported in a similar population (sensitivity from 80.14% (27) to 82.2% (29,30) and specificity from 32.23% (27) to 34.8% (30)). That the free testosterone threshold is associated with optimum sensitivity was previously demonstrated by Legros & Delhez (27).…”

Risk of late-onset hypogonadism (andropause) in Brazilian men over 50 years of age with osteoporosis: usefulness of screening questionnaires

“…Similar results were found in the Belgian study by T'sjoen et al (26). Delhez et al also described that the psychological response to decreased androgen manifests as minor depressive symptoms, which are not pathological (27). The AMS scale adds three different dimensions, therefore diluting the results and generating a poor comparison with the ADAM questionnaire, which needs, in most cases, only one affi rmative answer to yield a positive rating.…”