Prevalence of Hypogonadism in Males of Different Age Groups: Is It A Lack of Awareness?

Abstract

Introduction: Hypogonadism in aging male is defined as “Syndrome caused by androgen deficiency which affect multiple organ functions and quality of life”. Patients present with different symptoms like male erectile dysfunction, decreased sexual desire, anemia etc. Objectives: To demonstrate the serum testosterone levels and prevalence of hypogonadism in different age groups and their correlation with symptoms of hypogonadism. Study Design: Cross sectional comparative study. Settings: Allied Hospital Faisalabad. Duration: 3 years and 6 months, from Dec 1, 2015 to May 30, 2018. Methodology: 180 healthy looking males were randomly taken from attendants of patients of Urology Department from indoor or from OPD and categorized into six groups according to their age decades: starting from Group-I (20-29 years) and ending at Group 6 (70 years and above). Informed consent was taken. Symptoms of every person were recorded on Aging male symptoms scale (AMS) proforma/questionnaire. BMI, testicular volume, serum testosterone, Albumin, estradiol, SHBG, HbA1c and Blood Sugar were recorded. Results were recorded and put in SPSS version 10 for statistical analysis. Results: Average serum testosterone of different groups was 9.43±2.7ng/ml. The study shows a decrease in average serum testosterone level by 28.95% with advancing age. This difference is statistically not significant (chi square test, p-value 0.554). The prevalence of hypogonadism was 10% in advanced age groups of our study population and all persons having low testosterone were symptomatic. Study showed 93.44% increase in the severity of symptoms with advancing age. Conclusion: Serum testosterone falls with advancing age leading to different symptoms of hypogonadism but it is under reported as none of the persons was aware of this problem.