Reduced Sexual Activity and Desire in Older Men Could Cause Serum Testosterone Levels to Decline

Reduced sexual activity and desire in older men, not erectile dysfunction, could cause serum testosterone levels to decline, revealed a new study from Australia. Benjumin Hsu said, "Over two years, men with declining serum concentrations of testosterone were more likely to develop a significant decrease in their sexual activity and sexual desire. In older men, decreased sexual activity and desire may be a cause, not an effect, of low circulating testosterone level."

Whether decreasing sexual function is a cause or an effect of reduced androgen status in older men, or whether some other age-related factor may be involved, is still unclear. To explore the relationship between declining reproductive hormones and decreasing sexual function in older men, researchers assessed men 70 years of age and above in Sydney, Australia, who took part in the Concord Health and Aging in Men Project (CHAMP).

For every one standard deviation drop in testosterone level from baseline to follow-up, the adjusted odds ratio of further decline in sexual activity was 1.23. The researchers noted that the decline in testosterone was strikingly small, at less than 10 percent. Declines in estrogen were also associated with decline in sexual activity.

Source-Medindia