55 Andropause — How Relevant ? VN

In day-to-day practice it is not unusual to encounter male patients in their 50s or older who come to physician for loss of libido, erectile dysfunction, unexplained fatigue, behavioral problems, loss of muscle mass and some times unexplained bony fractures. These symptoms can be vague and can vary a lot among individuals. Some men find it difficult to admit that there’s even a problem. And often physicians didn’t always think of low-testosterone levels as a possible culprit. So these factors often lead doctors to conclude that symptoms were related to other medical conditions, depression or were simply related to aging and often encourage their patients to accept that “they were no longer spring chickens” while in fact sole cause for this entire symptom complex may be Andropause. “Term Andropause refers to a state of lowered androgens levels”1. Some prefer to use term “Androclise” instead of andropause as pause means abolish and clise means decline and there is gradual decline in testosterone levels in andropause2. Different names like male climatric, androgen deficiency in aging males (ADAM), penopause, viropause, age dependent decrease in plasma testosterone and low testosterone syndrome have been used in literature as synonym with andropause3,4. Androgens are a group of hormones that include testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone, and androstenedione among others. It is a misnomer to call them as male hormones as they are present in both males and females albeit in different amounts. There is undeniable evidence that aging results in lowering of androgen levels.