Aging Men, Obesity, Metabolic Syndrome, Decrease in Total Serum Testosterone Levels

Researchers writing in the Journal of Urology say that their study “…demonstrated that aging men with obesity and the metabolic syndrome have a significant decrease in total serum testosterone levels compared to aging, metabolically healthy men.”

Kaplan SA, Meehan AG, Shah A. The Age Related Decrease in Testosterone is Significantly Exacerbated in Obese Men With the Metabolic Syndrome. What are the Implications for the Relatively High Incidence of Erectile Dysfunction Observed in These Men? J Urol. 2006 Oct;176(4):1524-8
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Power Training and Balance in Older Adults

Researchers in Australia and Massachusetts say that low load, high velocity power training can improve balance and reduce fall risks in aging subjects.

From the abstract:
“Age-related decline in muscle power may be an early indicator of balance deficits and fall risk, even in nonfrail adults. This study examined the dose-dependent effect of power training on balance performance in healthy older adults.

One hundred twelve community-dwelling healthy older adults (69 ± 6 years) were randomized to 8–12 weeks of power training at 20% (LOW), 50% (MED), or 80% (HIGH) of maximal strength, or a nontraining control (CON) group…”

The researchers concluded:
“Power training significantly improved balance performance in participants who underwent power training compared to controls. Low intensity power training produced the greatest improvement in balance performance…

Power training improves balance, particularly using a low load, high velocity regimen, in older adults with initial lower muscle power and slower contraction. Further studies are warranted to define the mechanisms underlying this adaptation, as well as the optimum power training intensity for a range of physiological and clinical outcomes in older adults with varying levels of health status and functional independence.”

Orr R, de Vos NJ, Singh NA, Ross DA, Stavrinos TM, Fiatarone-Singh MA. Power Training Improves Balance in Healthy Older Adults. The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences 61:78-85 (2006)

Heart Health

Testosterone May Protect Against Hardening Of The Arteries
Testosterone supplementation has received a fair share of “bad press.” Mostly due to health problems (sterility, coronary artery disease, liver damage, and brain tumors), caused in young men and women who should not be taking testosterone supplementation, but do so at super-physiological doses, to enhance athletic performance.

The Sooner You Cut Your Risk For Cardiovascular Disease The Longer You Will Live
Writing in the medical journal Circulation, researchers say that if you are at low risk for cardiovascular disease at age 50, it is unlikely that you will suffer from heart disease in your lifetime and that compared to others in the same age group with higher risk, men could expect to live 11 more years and women 9 more years.

Does Being Optimistic Really Lower Risk From Cardiovascular Disease in Elderly Men?
Researchers writing in the medical journal the Archives of Internal Medicine say that having an optimistic outlook, DOES lower mortality risk associated with cardiovascular disease.

Menopause and Heart Disease
researchers writing in the medical journal Climacteric say that “an ideal hormone replacement therapy that can overcome hypertension, prevent body weight gain and control serum triglycerides offers an important advance in cardiovascular risk management during the menopause.”

Testosterone, Diabetes, and Cardiovascular Disease
New research says Testosterone may have a protective role in the development of metabolic syndrome and subsequent diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease in aging men.

Diabetes and ED

Researchers writing in the British journal of urology say that about 1 in 3 men newly diagnosed with diabetes had ED.

The prevalence and predictors of erectile dysfunction in men with newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus.Al-Hunayan A, Al-Mutar M, Kehinde EO, Thalib L, Al-Ghorory M. BJU Int. 2006 Oct 9;

From the article abstract
OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of and risk factors for erectile dysfunction (ED) in men newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM).

PATIENTS AND METHODS All consecutive samples of men newly diagnosed with type 2 DM attending the diabetes centre in the capital of Kuwait were included in the study. Face-to-face interviews with the men were conducted using the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF)-5 questionnaire. A threshold IIEF-5 score of <21 was used to identify men with ED. Pertinent clinical and laboratory characteristics were collected. RESULTS Of 323 men with newly diagnosed type 2 DM, 31% had ED; comparing potent men and men with ED, there were statistically significant differences for smoking, duration of smoking, hypertension, education level, body mass index and serum glycosylated haemoglobin level. Among these, age was the most important risk factor identified by multivariate logistic regression.

CONCLUSION About a third of men with newly diagnosed type 2 DM had ED; this was associated with many variables, but most notably with age at presentation.

Decreased Testosterone and ED

Researchers writing in the Journal of Urology say that their study clearly demonstrated a decrease in testosterone level throughout a 4-year follow up in patients with ED.

El-Sakka AI, Hassoba HM. Age related testosterone depletion in patients with erectile dysfunction. J Urol. 2006 Dec;176(6):2589-93.

PURPOSE: We assessed the pattern of age related testosterone depletion in patients with erectile dysfunction.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 305 patients with erectile dysfunction who had a normal testosterone level at baseline visit and who completed the study were candidates for analysis. Erectile function was assessed using the International Index of Erectile Function. Patients underwent routine laboratory investigations plus total testosterone and prolactin assessment at the baseline visit and on a yearly basis for 4 years.

RESULTS: The mean age +/- SD was significantly higher in 210 patients with decreased testosterone (55.3 +/- 7.3 years) than in 95 patients with steady testosterone (remaining within the normal range) (50.8 +/- 10.2 years).

There was a significant decrease in yearly mean testosterone level throughout the study in all the age groups (determined by decades) older than 30 years.

Of the study population 68.9% had decreases in testosterone levels throughout the 4 years of visits.

Hypogonadism (testosterone lower than normal range) developed in 7.6% of the study population.

There was a significant decrease in mean testosterone at any visit in comparison to previous visits.

There were significant associations between decreased levels of testosterone and increased severity of erectile dysfunction at baseline visit, longer duration and poor metabolic control of diabetes, ischemic heart disease, hyperprolactinemia and low desire.

CONCLUSIONS: This study clearly demonstrated a decrease in testosterone level throughout the 4-year followup in patients with erectile dysfunction. Patients with decreasing testosterone were older than patients with a steady testosterone level.

Does Being Optimistic Really Lower Risk From Cardiovascular Disease in Elderly Men?

Researchers writing in the medical journal the Archives of Internal Medicine say that having an optimistic outlook, DOES lower mortality risk associated with cardiovascular disease.

Here are excerpts from the study abstract:
Background-Dispositional optimism, defined in terms of life engagement and generalized positive outcome expectancies for one’s future, may be related to lower cardiovascular mortality. We aimed to determine whether dispositional optimism is a stable trait over time and whether it is independently related to lower cardiovascular mortality in elderly men.

METHODS-In a cohort study with a follow-up of 15 years, we included 545 (61.4%) of 887 men, aged 64 to 84 years, who were free of preexisting cardiovascular disease and cancer and who had complete data on cardiovascular risk factors and sociodemographic characteristics.

RESULTS-Optimism scores significantly decreased over 15 years, but showed temporal stability.

Conclusion-Dispositional optimism is a relatively stable trait over 15 years and shows a graded and inverse association with the risk of cardiovascular death.

Giltay EJ, Kamphuis MH, Kalmijn S, Zitman FG, Kromhout D. Dispositional Optimism and the Risk of Cardiovascular Death. The Zutphen Elderly Study. Arch Intern Med. 2006;166:431-436.
Read the full abstract

Sleep and Diabetes Risk in Men

Researchers writing in the medical journal Diabetes Care say that too little or too much sleep increases diabetes risk. The researchers say that men getting 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night were twice as likely to develop diabetes, men getting more than 8 hours were three times more likely to develop diabetes. They also noted that testosterone may be a factor in sleep on diabetes.

Highlights from the study abstract
“OBJECTIVE—Short-term partial sleep restriction results in glucose intolerance and insulin resistance. The purpose of this study was to assess the long-term relationship between sleep duration and the incidence of clinical diabetes.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—A cohort of men from the Massachusetts Male Aging Study without diabetes at baseline (1987–1989) were followed until 2004 for the development of diabetes. Average number of hours of sleep per night was grouped into the following categories: 5, 6, 7, 8, and >8 h. Incidence rates and relative risks (RRs) were calculated for the development of diabetes in each sleep duration category. Those reporting 7 [hours] of sleep per night served as the reference group.

RESULTS—Men reporting short sleep duration (5 and 6 [hours] of sleep per night) were twice as likely to develop diabetes, and men reporting long sleep duration [more than 8 hours of sleep per night] were more than three times as likely to develop diabetes over the period of follow-up.

Elevated risks remained essentially unchanged after adjustment for age, hypertension, smoking status, self-rated health status, education, and waist circumference. (Relative Risks) were altered considerably for the two extreme sleep groups when adjusted for testosterone…suggesting that the effects of sleep on diabetes could be mediated via changes in endogenous testosterone levels.

CONCLUSIONS—Short and long sleep durations increase the risk of developing diabetes, independent of confounding factors. Sleep duration may represent a novel risk factor for diabetes.”

Yaggi HK, Araujo AB, McKinlay JB. Sleep Duration as a Risk Factor for the Development of Type 2 Diabetes. Diabetes Care 29:657-661, 2006.
Read the full abstract

Does Being Optimistic Really Lower Risk From Cardiovascular Disease in Elderly Men?
Researchers writing in the medical journal the Archives of Internal Medicine say that having an optimistic outlook, DOES lower mortality risk associated with cardiovascular disease. Read more

DHEA, Bone Mineral Density, Older Adults

Researchers writing in the medical journal The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, say that DHEA replacement therapy for one year improved hip Bone Mineral Density in older adults and spine Bone Mineral Density in older women.

Jankowski CM, Gozansky WS, Schwartz RS, Dahl DJ, Kittelson JM, Scott SM, Pelt RE, Kohrt WM. Effects of DHEA Replacement Therapy on Bone Mineral Density in Older Adults: A Randomized, Controlled Trial. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2006 May 30

Aging

Researchers look at what makes people age successfully
Factors associated with the successful aging of the socially-active elderly in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre. Rev Bras Psiquiatr. 2005 Dec;27(4):302-308. Moraes JF, Souza VB.

Writing in the medical journal Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria, researchers studied some of the inhabitants of the metropolitan region of the Brazialian city Porto Alegre. What they sought to do was “identify the factors associated with aging of the socially-active elderly in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre.” Read more

Predicting Mortality: Researchers Have A Formula
From the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)
ABSTRACT: “Context Both comorbid conditions and functional measures predict mortality in older adults, but few prognostic indexes combine both classes of predictors. Combining easily obtained measures into an accurate predictive model could be useful to clinicians advising patients, as well as policy makers and epidemiologists interested in risk adjustment. Read more

Researchers Say Marital Strain Can Affect Aging
You make me sick: marital quality and health over the life course. Umberson D, Williams K, Powers DA, Liu H, Needham B.J Health Soc Behav. 2006 Mar;47(1):1-16.

From the press release of the American Sociological Association:
“Researchers have found that marital strain accelerates the typical decline in self-rated physical health that occurs over time and that this adverse effect is greater at older ages. As men and women age, they become increasingly vulnerable to marital stress, according to a team of sociologists from the University of Texas-Austin and Ohio State University. Their findings appear in an article on marital quality and health over the life course in this month’s Journal of Health and Social Behavior, a publication of the American Sociological Association.”

Click here to go to our links page for the press release from American Sociological Association

Aging Men and Their Hormones
Writing in the medical journal Minerva Ginecologica, researchers say that “The ability to maintain active and independent living for as long as possible is a crucial factor for (aging healthfully)” and that “Interventions such as hormone replacement therapy may alleviate the debilitating conditions of secondary partial endocrine deficiencies by preventing the preventable and delaying the inevitable.”

Why Do Some People Age Healthily and Happily, While others do not?
Coping with Stress and Adversity May Be A Key

Arizona State University researchers will begin a five year study to examine how “factors of risk and resilience contribute to health and well-being.” Read more

Healthwath with Dr. Darrow on KCAL-TV CBS NEWS : Women and Hormones

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