Male menopause is a 'myth'
2003-09-08 08:09
Massachusetts - Men who complain of the male menopause are more likely to be the victims of an unhealthy lifestyle, a scientist says.
Professor John McKinlay, a leading authority on men's health, argues that the male menopause is a myth. He claims drug companies were cashing in on the false notions of men who think they need hormone replacement to boost their flagging sex drives.
The scientist, from the New England Research Institutes in Watertown, Massachusetts, analysed data from the Massachusetts Male Ageing Study (MMAS), which included 1 700 individuals.
He said: "We show that unlike hormone changes in mid-aged women (who experience a rapid decline), male hormones decline quite gradually with age (testosterone at approximately 1% a year and there is simply no empirical support for a syndrome."
About 5% of men showed evidence of hypogonadism - a clinical loss of hormones which had nothing to do with middle age. McKinlay said illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and depression appeared to have more of an impact on hormone levels than ageing.
Most significantly, adverse lifestyle habits, such as smoking, excess alcohol consumption and lack of exercise, contributed to a decline in hormone levels and sexual functioning. There was evidence that weight gain in middle-aged men may do more to lower testosterone levels than ageing itself.
McKinlay presented his findings at the British Fertility Society's annual conference in Aberdeen. He said: "The notion of a male menopause, mid-life crisis or andropause has been discussed for several decades. Worldwide, male ageing is generating public interest and also, incidentally, a lucrative market.
"Pharmaceutical involvement is producing new treatments (testosterone replacement) in search of a disease. Several authors have written non-scientific books on male menopause: they self-select and misrepresent scientific data in support of preconceived notions." - Sapa-DPA
- SAPA