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

Subclinical Hypothyroidism and Depression

Researchers writing in the Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics say that “subclinical hypothyroidism increases the risk for depression and emphasize the importance of thyroid screening tests in the elderly.”

Study abstract
Chueire VB, Romaldini JH, Ward LS. Subclinical hypothyroidism increases the risk for depression in the elderly. Arch Gerontol Geriatr. 2007 Jan-Feb;44(1):21-8. Epub 2006 May 5.

In order to determine if subclinical hypothyroidism is a risk factor for depression in the elderly, a total of 323 individuals over 60 years old were interviewed using the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnosis and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) for mood disturbances.

Patients were divided into Group I: 252 patients (184 females, 68 males; median age: 67 years, range: 60-89 years) with elevated serum thyrotropin (TSH) levels and Group II: 71 patients (45 females, 26 males; median age: 67 years, range: 60-92 years) with diagnosis of depression. Serum TSH and free thyroxine (fT4) were measured by sensitive assays. Thyroid antibodies were determined by IRMA. Depression was observed in 24 (9.5%)

Group I patients and was frequent in subclinical hypothyroidism patients (14/24 = 58.3%). On the other hand, elevated TSH levels were found in 22 (30.9%) Group II patients.

Depression was observed more frequently among individuals with subclinical (74/149 = 49.7%) hypothyroidism than among individuals with overt hypothyroidism (21/125 = 16.8%) (p < 0.001). Indeed, subclinical hypothyroidism increased the risk for a patient to present depression more than four times (OR = 4.886; 95% confidence interval = 2.768-8.627).

Our results demonstrate that subclinical hypothyroidism increases the risk for depression and emphasize the importance of thyroid screening tests in the elderly.

Thyroid Articles

Thyroid in Women Over 50
You are gaining weight and losing your hair, because of these “characteristics of aging,” you realize that you are getting older and now you have made yourself depressed. Is this aging or is it low-thyroid?

Estimates say that by age 50, 10% of women will be hypothyroid (not producing enough thyroid hormone) and by age 60 that number can nearly double.

You won’t need a scientific study to know that once over the age of 50, maintaining proper body weight becomes more difficult. When a person become hypothyroid staying trim and fit becomes nearly impossible.

The Evil Cycle of Weight Gain and Hypothyroidism
The Thyroid is a master gland participating and controlling the function of all the major body organs. When thyroid hormone is not produced in sufficient quantities to regulate our energy levels (hypothyroidism), our metabolism slows down to a crawl. This has the following weight gain effect.

1. Even on reduced calorie diets, your metabolism will not burn enough calories and you will retain weight.

2. A slow down in metabolism means a drop in energy and the inability to exercise or lead a sufficiently active life to stay trim.

3. Another consequence of hypothyroidism is constipation, accumulated fecal matter accounts for significant pounds.

4. Let’s add water retention for that bloated feeling.

Diagnosis of Hypothyroidism
Hypothyroidism is not easily diagnosed by physicians because the symptoms are that which are routinely attributed to old age, that is the loss of energy, weight gain, etc. A “Thyroid Panel,” measuring TSH, T3, and T4 levels should be part of a basic blood chemistry panel in everyone over 30 so this “old age issue,” may be treated.

Beyond the Blood Test
Sometimes a suspected Thyroid problem can show “normal blood tests” it is important for the women and the doctor who suspect that thyroid is a problem to look for the following besides those symptoms, weight gain, depression, thinning or losing hair mentioned above.

Especially significant are
* memory and mood disorders
* cold sensitivity
* and menstrual problems

Even after you are put on thyroid supplementation, it is important to monitor these symptoms and your general overall health so that you can guide your physician and together your thyroid the type and amount of thyroid supplementation can be altered to help you be the best you can.

Thyroid Main Page

Pregnenolone Research

Sleep and Memory

George O, Vallee M, Le Moal M, Mayo W. Neurosteroids and cholinergic systems: implications for sleep and cognitive processes and potential role of age-related changes Neurosteroids and cholinergic systems: implications for sleep and cognitive processes and potential role of age-related changes. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2006 Jan 17;:1-12

Rationale: The neurosteroids pregnenolone sulfate (PREGS), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) and allopregnanolone (3alpha,5alpha THPROG) have been implicated as powerful modulators of memory processes and sleep states in young and aged subjects with memory impairment. As these processes depend on the integrity of cholinergic systems, a specific effect of neurosteroids on these systems may account for their effects on sleep and memory.

Objective: To review the evidence for a specific and differential effect of neurosteroids on cholinergic systems.

Conclusions: The specific modulation of basal forebrain and brainstem cholinergic systems by neurosteroids may account for the effects of these compounds on sleep and memory processes. To improve our understanding of the role of neurosteroids in cholinergic systems during normal and pathological aging, we need to determine whether there is specific regionalization of neurosteroids, and we need to investigate the relationship between neurosteroid concentrations in cholinergic nuclei and age-related sleep and memory impairments.

Alzheimer’s
Neurosteroid quantification in human brain regions: comparison between Alzheimer’s and nondemented patients.

Weill-Engerer S, David JP, Sazdovitch V, Liere P, Eychenne B, Pianos A, Schumacher M, Delacourte A, Baulieu EE, Akwa Y.Neurosteroid quantification in human brain regions: comparison between Alzheimer’s and nondemented patients.J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2002 Nov;87(11):5138-43

Abstract: “…To investigate the physiopathological significance of neurosteroids in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), we compared the concentrations of pregnenolone, pregnenolone sulfate (PREGS), dehydroepiandrosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), progesterone, and allopregnanolone…in individual brain regions of AD patients and aged nondemented controls, including hippocampus, amygdala, frontal cortex, striatum, hypothalamus, and cerebellum.

A general trend toward decreased levels of all steroids was observed in all AD patients’ brain regions compared with controls: PREGS and DHEAS were significantly lower in the striatum and cerebellum, and DHEAS was also significantly reduced in the hypothalamus. A significant negative correlation was found between the levels of cortical beta-amyloid peptides and those of PREGS in the striatum and cerebellum and between the levels of phosphorylated tau proteins and DHEAS in the hypothalamus. This study provides reference values for steroid concentrations determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in various regions of the aged human brain. High levels of key proteins implicated in the formation of plaques and neurofibrillary tangles were correlated with decreased brain levels of PREGS and DHEAS, suggesting a possible neuroprotective role of these neurosteroids in AD.”

Pregnenolone main page

Progesterone and Hormone Supplementation

Progesterone is a female sex hormone produced in the ovaries, and in smaller quantities, in the adrenal glands. During the last two weeks of the menstrual cycle, progesterone becomes the dominate female hormone as it prepares the body for pregnancy.

Progesterone is the counterbalance of estrogen and regulates the effects of estrogen in a woman’s body. Progesterone and estrogen are designed by nature to work together. This is why many physicians treating hormonal problems include it in their regiment guidelines. We do not prescribe estrogen without progesterone.

When it was found that Estrogen replacement alone, without concomitant progesterone supplementation, could increase a women’s chance of contracting uterine cancer, researchers and physicians thought to counteract this risk by prescribing progesterone in the form of a synthetic version called “progestin.”

Why? The issue of patentable versus non-patentable. Progestins can make a lot of money for the manufacturer, progesterone can not. It didn’t take long for the side-effects of progestins to become known: Weight gain and bloating, anxiety and high-blood pressure, PMS-like symptoms and more.

Is Progesterone safer?
Not all doctors and researchers agree that progesterone is any better or any safer than progestins.

Progesterone and hormone supplementation.
Progesterone is almost mandatory in many women, progestins are not.

In July 2002 when the Woman’s Health Initiative released their findings that hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was dangerous, somehow, progesterone was singled out as being the cause of excessive breast cancer risks by the general media. This was not the case at all. A portion of the study cited above, was discontinued because of breast cancer risk in those women using a combination of synthetic hormones; that derived from horse urine mixed with progestins, not progesterone.

How different are progestins from progesterone?
In pregnancy, progesterone protects the human fetus and maintains a healthy pregnancy. Progestins cannot be taken during pregnancy because they can cause birth defects. Progestins are used in birth control pills to prevent pregnancy.

Do progestins and progesterone sound like the same hormone to you?
Further, the side effects of progestins can include breast tenderness, depression, edema and bloating. Progesterone does not seem to cause any of those side effects. In fact, it usually reduces such symptoms.

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Pregnenolone

Pregnenolone is a steroid hormone synthesized from cholesterol mainly by the adrenal glands and in small part by our nervous system.

What does it do?
There is speculation as to the main role of pregnenolone in the body. Most researchers are now in agreement that the primary role of pregnenolone is as the precursor (the building block) of our other hormones including the estrogens, progesterone, testosterone and DHEA.

DHEA is considered the “daughter” hormone of pregnenolone. Indeed pregneolone is considered by some to be the “mother of all steroid hormones.”

It has been suggested by human and animal studies that pregnenolone may assist:
-Memory enhancement
-Feelings of well being
-Intelligence by increasing ability to acquire knowledge
-Reduction of physical and mental effects of stress
-Mood improvement
-Energy improvement
-Reduction of PMS and menopausal symptoms
-Better sleep and deeper sleep
-Reduction of wrinkles through skin hydration
-As an anti-inflammatory, and with benefits for rheumatoid arthritis

Pregnenolone supplementation
As do our other hormones, pregnenolone levels decline with age. In our seventies, many produce up to 60% less pregnenolone than we did in our thirties. Many physicians and scientists believe that replacement of pregnenolone to those levels of our thirties can help with the symptoms regularly attributed to aging.

Another aspect of pregnenolone that researchers find intriguing is that pregnenolone levels may regulate the levels of our other hormones. In other words, supplementation of pregnenolone may positively impact decreased levels of our other hormones and restore them to more optimal levels.

There is a negative. If increasing pregnenolone levels increases the body’s own ability to make hormones, such as DHEA, then concurrent supplementation can theoretically raise other hormone levels too high. This is yet another reason why self-administering any hormone is not advisable and should be done only after levels are drawn and analyzed by an age management specialist.

Pregnenolone Research

Intimacy, Urinary, and Depressive Problems In Women Who Have Partners With E.D.

Researchers writing in the medical journal World Journal of Urology say that FSD disorders, urinary symptoms and depressive symptoms are common in partners of men with ED.

From the study abstract
Shabsigh R, Anastasiades A, Cooper KL, Rutman MP. Female sexual dysfunction, voiding symptoms and depression: common findings in partners of men with erectile dysfunction. World J Urol. 2006 Nov 3

The researchers sought to “investigate the prevalence of female sexual dysfunction (FSD), urinary symptoms, and depressive symptoms in female partners of men presenting with erectile dysfunction (ED).”

Through a survey 73 women with male patients presenting with ED were surveyed using a questionnaire at their counterpart’s visit. Fifty of the women filled out the questionnaire sufficiently to be studied.

Of the 50 women, the average age was 44.8 years and 38 of the women reported being sexually active

The women reported the following sexual dysfunctions:

• anxiety/inhibition (26%)
• hypoactive desire (20%)
• arousal/lubrication difficulty (30%)
• orgasmic difficulty (24%)
• dyspareunia* (18%)
• incontinence during intercourse (8%)
• sexual dissatisfaction (34%)



In other questions the women reported:
Forty-one women (82%) rated sexual activity as an important part of their lives.
Urinary symptoms of frequency and urgency were reported by 18/50 (36%).
Depressive symptoms were present in 22/50 (44%).

The researchers noted that: “FSD disorders, urinary symptoms and depressive symptoms are common in partners of men with erectile dysfunction.”

*Note added: Painful intercourse

Male and Female Intimacy Dysfunctions

Researchers writing in the medical journal Lancet report on endocrine disease and male and female intimacy dysfunctions.

Bhasin S, Enzlin P, Coviello A, Basson R. Sexual dysfunction in men and women with endocrine disorders. Lancet. 2007 Feb 17;369(9561):597-611

Endocrine disease frequently interrupts sexual function, and sexual dysfunction may signal serious endocrine disease. Diabetic autonomic neuropathy and endothelial dysfunction impair erectile function, and phosphodiesterase inhibition produces only moderate benefit. The effect of diabetes on women’s sexual function is complex: the most consistent finding is a correlation between sexual dysfunction and depression. Reductions in testosterone level in men are associated with low sexual desire and reduced nocturnal erections and ejaculate volume, all of which improve with testosterone supplementation. The age-dependent decline in testosterone production in men is not associated with precise sexual symptoms, and supplementation has not been shown to produce sexual benefit. In women, sexual dysfunction has not been associated with serum testosterone, but this may be confounded by limitations of assays at low concentrations and by the greater importance of intracellular production of testosterone in women than in men. Testosterone supplementation after menopause does improve some aspects of sexual function in women, but long-term outcome data are needed. More research on the sexual effects of abnormal adrenal and thyroid function, hyperprolactinaemia, and metabolic syndrome should also be prioritised. We have good data on local management of the genital consequences of oestrogen lack, but need to better understand the potential role of systemic oestrogen supplementation from menopause onwards in sexually symptomatic women.

Desire, Arousal, and Satisfaction in Aging Women

Researchers writing ion the medical journal Minerva Ginecologica examined issues related to aging and desire and arousal.

Nappi RE, Albani F, Valentino V, Polatti F, Chiovato L, Genazzani AR. Aging and sexuality in women. Minerva Ginecol. 2007 Jun;59(3):287-298.

A large number of biological, psycho-relational and socio-cultural factors are related to women’s sexual health and they may negatively affect the entire sexual response cycle inducing significant changes in sexual desire, arousal, orgasm and satisfaction during the entire reproductive life span.

In spite of the high prevalence of sexual problems with increasing age, sexual retirement is not an inevitable consequence of the passage of time and a high proportion of men and women remains sexually active well into later life, a result of changing attitudes toward sexuality and the availability of effective treatments for sexual dysfunction.

Population-based studies reported an age-related decline of sexual functioning and an additional adverse effect of menopausal status. Ageing per se interferes with the level of sexual performance, but sexual behaviour of midlife and older women is highly dependent on several factors such as general physical and mental well-being, quality of relationship and life situation.

Sex hormones, mainly low levels of estradiol, are relevant for the lack of sexual awareness and vaginal receptivity in naturally menopausal women.

Even diminished levels of androgens, as it more frequently occurs in surgically menopausal women, has a negative impact on desire and sexual responsiveness.

Several hormonal treatments have been used locally or systemically to alleviate sexual symptoms, especially by using estrogen plus androgen preparations and tibolone, with noticeable results on drive, enjoyment, lubrication, ability to reach orgasm and initiation of sex. However, sexual counseling and individualized management is mandatory to obtain meaningful and long-lasting results in clinical practice.

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