Komiya Akira, Watanabe Akihiko, Fuse Hideki
Department of Urology, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences for Research, University of Toyama.
Clin Calcium. 2010 Feb;20(2):234-44.
"Male menopause" or "andropause" has been used as a popular term in public derived from the term "menopause" in females. However, there is no clear definition for this disorder. Recently, academic societies officially recommended to use "late-onset hypogonadism in males" (LOH) as an academic word. State of andropause and LOH is not the same but partially overlapped. In 2007, Japan's own guideline for LOH was published. Unlike Western countries, LOH is diagnosed by measuring serum free testosterone level because total testosterone did not show age-related decrease in a large Japanese male study. Patients with lower FT level undergo androgen replacement therapy. For those with normal FT, other treatments are recommended. Approval of more agents (i.e. androgen gel or oral medicine) for androgen replacement is awaited.
“男性更年期”或“雄激素缺乏症”是从女性的“更年期”一词衍生而来的在大众中流行的术语。然而，这种病症尚无明确的定义。最近，学术团体正式建议使用“男性迟发性性腺功能减退”（LOH）作为学术用语。雄激素缺乏症的状态与LOH并不相同，但部分重叠。2007年，日本发布了本国的LOH指南。与西方国家不同，在一项大型日本男性研究中，由于总睾酮水平未显示出与年龄相关的下降，因此通过测量血清游离睾酮水平来诊断LOH。游离睾酮水平较低的患者接受雄激素替代疗法。对于游离睾酮水平正常的患者，建议采用其他治疗方法。人们期待更多用于雄激素替代的药物（如雄激素凝胶或口服药物）获得批准。
