6. Relationship between age-related hypogonadism and symptoms of depression in Kazakh men

Аннотация

The study is aimed at determining the relationship between age-related testosterone decline and depression in overweight Kazakh men.

Materials and methods. In total, 417 men of Kazakh nationality, residents of Semey, Abay region, took part in the case-control study. Of these, 135 men had signs of hypogonadism, and 282 men in the control group had no signs of hypogonadism, which is detected by the Ageing Male Screening "questionnaire for age-related symptoms of depression.

Results. There is a pronounced correlation between clinically manifest hypogonadism and depression in the studied patient population (rs = 0.766, p<0.001). The level of testosterone is inversely proportional to the severity of depression, i.e., its lower level correlates with more severe depression (rs = -0.402, p < 0.001) of total. Similarly, a trend is observed in the free testosterone-depression correlation (rs = -0.210, p < 0.001), while there is no correlation between signs of depression and the bioavailable testosterone fraction.

Conclusion. Men naturally protect themselves against depressive disorders with testosterone, but this protection disappears as soon as it drops. Thus, the way the bioavailable testosterone fraction affects depression levels in older men needs further research. Men with age-related hypogonadism and depression who attend an erectile dysfunction clinic form a distinct subgroup of patients. Such a category is to be carefully differentiated by the etiology of depressive disorder and erectile dysfunction.