[Testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone deficiency, general adiposity and visceral obesity during normal male aging]

Abstract

Both clinical observations and in vitro studies reveal that sex steroids are essential factors affecting body fat accumulation and distribution of healthy men. An excessive adiposity and visceral obesity are frequently accompanied by an adrenal and gonadal andropenia among men aged 50 and over. The relationships between an age-related increase in BMI and WHR values and an altered androgen-estrogen activity in the course of normal male aging have not been firmly established, as not all studies have thus far produced consistent results. The effects of androgen substitutive therapy (testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone) in elderly men suggest the possible relationship between androgens and male visceral adiposity; unfortunately the results of available studies on that issue are also not consistent. Therefore, nowadays there is an urgent need to comprehensively establish the androgen contribution in the pathogenesis of male visceral obesity.