Older men with low testosterone
levels at higher risk of Alzheimer's disease
Low levels of the male sex hormone, testosterone, in
older men is associated with the onset of Alzheimer's disease, according to research
published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and led by Leung-Wing Chu, M.D.,
who is chief of the division of geriatric medicine at Queen Mary Hospital at the
University of Hong Kong.
"Having low testosterone may make you more vulnerable to Alzheimer's disease,"
said John E. Morley, M.D., director of the division of geriatric medicine at Saint
Louis University and a study co-investigator. "The take-home message is we
should pay more attention to low testosterone, particularly in people who have
memory problems or other signs of cognitive impairment."
Researchers studied 153 Chinese men who were recruited from social centers.
They were at least 55 years and older, lived in the community and didn't have
dementia. Of those men, 47 had mild cognitive impairment - or problems with clear
thinking and memory loss.
Within a year, 10 men who were part of the cognitively impaired group developed
probable Alzheimer's disease. These men also had low testosterone in their body
tissues; elevated levels of the ApoE 4 (apolipoprotein E) protein, which is correlated
with a higher risk of Alzheimer's disease; and high blood pressure.
"It's a very exciting study because we've shown that a low level of testosterone
is one of the risk factors for Alzheimer's disease," Morley said.
The findings corroborate findings in previous studies of older Caucasian men
that show low testosterone is associated with impaired thinking and Alzheimer's
disease. They suggest that testosterone may have a protective value against Alzheimer's
disease.
The next step, Morley said, is to conduct a large-scale study that investigates
the use of testosterone in preventing Alzheimer's disease. Morley and his co-authors
advocate studying the effectiveness of testosterone replacement in older men who
have both mild memory problems and low testosterone in staving off Alzheimer's
disease.
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