These included three sexual symptoms (decreased frequency of morning erection, decreased frequency of sexual thoughts, and erectile dysfunction), three physical symptoms (an inability to engage in vigorous activity, an inability

to walk more than 1km, and an inability to bend, kneel or stoop), and three psychological symptoms (loss of energy, sadness and fatigue). The analysis suggested that late-onset hypogonadism is characterised by the presence of the three sexual symptoms in men with total testosterone levels <317ng/dl (11nmol/L) and free testosterone levels <64pg/ml (220pmol/L), but the results also highlighted the substantial overlap between late-onset hypogonadism and non-specific symptoms of aging. check details Wu and colleagues found that the long list of non-specific symptoms that have a potential association with testosterone deficiency made it difficult to establish a clear diagnosis of late-onset hypogonadism. Moreover, even the most specific symptoms of ‘androgen deficiency’ were relatively common even among men with normal testosterone levels. The study

authors concluded that, in order to increase the probability of correctly diagnosing late-onset hypogonadism, all three ‘sexual symptoms’ (among the total of nine ‘testosterone-related symptoms’) had to be present. Thus, late-onset hypogonadism emerged from this analysis as something of a niche diagnosis – rather than the pandemic that industry might have us believe this website exists. A study involving 1445 community dwelling US men, looking at the relationship between sex hormones, mobility limitations and physical performance, found that lower levels of baseline free testosterone were associated with a greater many risk of incident or worsening mobility limitation. The question necessarily arose as to whether this risk could be reduced with testosterone therapy, something that

could only be determined by large randomised trials.27 Recently published research data looked at adverse events associated with testosterone administration in 209 community-dwelling men, 65 years of age or older (mean age 74 years), with limitations in mobility and a total serum testosterone level of 100–350ng/dl (3.5–12.1nmol/L) or a free serum testosterone level of less than 50pg/ml (173pmol/L). At baseline there was a high prevalence of hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidaemia and obesity. Subjects were randomly assigned to receive placebo gel or testosterone gel, to be applied daily for six months. The trial was discontinued early because there was a significantly higher rate of adverse cardiovascular events in the testosterone group (23 subjects) than in the placebo group (five subjects).