Age Dependent Secretion of LH and ACTH in Healthy Men and Patients with Erectile Dysfunction

Objectives: Age dependent secretion of testicular and adrenal androgens was examined in healthy men and patients with erectile dysfunction (ED).Methods: In 95 healthy men (age 20–74 years) and 739 patients with ED, luteineizing hormone (LH, <F>n=739</F>), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH, <F>n=480</F>) and the secretion products of testis and adrenal gland testosterone (T, <F>n=750</F>), free testosterone (fT, <F>n=718</F>), dehydroepiandrosteronesulfate (DHEAS, <F>n=598</F>) and cortisol (<F>n=538</F>) were measured.Results: In healthy men, LH was measured from 0.75–8.58 mlU/ml and ACTH from 10.59–121.7 pg/ml. Statistically, age was not correlated to LH (<F>P=0.573</F>) and ACTH (<F>P=0.833</F>) in healthy men. The secretion products T (<F>P<0.05</F>), fT (<F>P<0.001</F>), DHEAS (<F>P<0.001</F>) and cortisol (<F>P<0.05</F>) declined significantly with age in healthy persons. In patients with ED, a significant age dependent increase of LH (<F>P<0.05</F>, <F>n=739</F>), but not ACTH (<F>P=0.469</F>, <F>n=480</F>) was found. T (<F>P<0.001</F>, <F>n=736</F>), fT (<F>P<0.001</F>, <F>n=718</F>) and DHEAS (<F>P<0.001</F>, <F>n=598</F>), but not cortisol (<F>P=0.307</F>, <F>n=538</F>) declined in age dependent patients with ED. Age matching revealed a statistical significant elevation (<F>P<0.05</F>) only for LH (<F>n=659</F>) in comparison to healthy men (<F>n=94</F>), all other hormones were not different in both groups. Conclusion: An LH-increase in patients with erectile dysfunction underlines the importance of Leydig cell degeneration in this disease, but age dependent decline of T secretion was comparable to healthy men, demonstrating a working hypophyseal–testicular-axis. Indication of androgen replacement is therefore limited to selected cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]