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Depression
Published in Charles Theisler, Adjuvant Medical Care, 2023
DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) is a hormone produced by the adrenal glands and is available as a supplement. DHEA helps produce other hormones, including testosterone and estrogen. DHEA is a glucocorticoid antagonist and is effective in treating mild to moderate depression.5‘6
Hormones and Cardiovascular Disease
Published in Stephen T. Sinatra, Mark C. Houston, Nutritional and Integrative Strategies in Cardiovascular Medicine, 2022
Dehydroepiandrosterone, DHEA, is an androgenic hormone produced mainly in the adrenal glands. There have been numerous epidemiological studies indicating that low levels of DHEA correlate with increased risk of cardiovascular risk, morbidity, and actual coronary artery disease in men, but not in women. The impact of treatment with DHEA is not clear; however, there is some evidence that DHEA works as an antioxidant, which would imply that normalizing levels not only could attenuate any increased risk from lower-than-normal levels but could also decrease inflammation through an antioxidant effect.118
Ageing
Published in Henry J. Woodford, Essential Geriatrics, 2022
In mice, several single-gene defects have been described that do prolong lifespan between 20% and 40%. These relate to genes that are either important for the production of growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor or the receptors involved in their cellular actions. This finding is at odds with the observed fall in these hormones associated with human ageing, which has been proposed to lead to frailty (see later) and some research has been directed towards the replacement of such hormones to delay or reverse ageing, although results of interventions have not been beneficial. The supplementation of growth hormone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), in older women and DHEA or testosterone in older men has not resulted in any significant physiological benefits.6,7 Human ageing is likely to be a much more complex process than could be reversed by such simple interventions.
Postmenopausal sexual function and steroid hormone levels: a hospital-based cross-sectional study
Published in Climacteric, 2023
E. Nunes, E. Gallardo, S. Morgado-Nunes, J. Fonseca-Moutinho
Estrogen deprivation is responsible for vulvovaginal atrophy and higher incidence of dyspareunia and topical vaginal estrogen therapy improves sexual function in postmenopausal women [10]. Androgens appear to play a role in maintaining sexual health and clinical trials have consistently demonstrated that testosterone therapy improves sexual function in women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder [11]. In a recent large study of premenopausal women, the authors showed that testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and androstenedione have small but significant positive associations with sexual desire, pleasure and self-image [12]. However, few studies have been conducted regarding androgens and sexual function in postmenopausal women. Adrenal androgens decline with age and by the time of menopause have already decreased 60% [13]. For decades there has been controversy over whether the postmenopausal ovary is an androgen production site [14–17]. More recently it was stated that around 20% of serum DHEA originates from the postmenopausal ovary [18]. Bilateral oophorectomy performed during the postmenopausal period reduces sexual function scores significantly [19].
Hearing loss is associated with hippocampal atrophy and high cortisol/dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate ratio in older adults
Published in International Journal of Audiology, 2021
Mitsuhiro Aoki, Hiroshi Okuda, Hiromasa Ishihara, Hisamitsu Hayashi, Toshimitsu Ohashi, Takesumi Nishihori, Bunya Kuze
The HP atrophy associated with the cognitive impairment may be accelerated by the decrease in the sensory stimuli such as visual, auditory, tactile, and smell inputs due to aging. The cognitive impairment may be related to decreased levels of DHEA, which is a precursor steroid of testosterone and a neuro-steroid synthesised in the brain (Baulieu and Robel 1998; Armanini et al. 2003). DHEA and cortisol are potent adrenal hormones with many physical functions. Circadian variations exist in the secretion of adrenocortical hormones, and their levels of blood changes significantly due to the dynamics of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) secretion (De Becker et al. 1999). Further, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS) has a long biological half-life, and the serum level is relatively stable. Therefore, measuring the blood level of DHEAS can determine the secretion of adrenal androgen and indirectly the secretion of ACTH. The cortisol to DHEAS (C/D) ratio has been measured as a more precise method to assess the degree of adrenal function, and this ratio is higher for cases with an age-related disease (Khanfer, Lord, and Phillips 2011; Yanagita et al. 2019).
A narrative review of adjuvants in in vitro fertilisation: evidence for good clinical practice
Published in Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 2020
Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is a weak androgen, which is mainly produced in the adrenal glands. Its level declines with age (Orentreich et al. 1984). There has been speculation that DHEA supplementation could improve ovarian response to IVF stimulation in women with low ovarian reserve and is the most commonly used androgen supplement during IVF treatment (Casson et al. 2000). The potentially beneficial effect of DHEA was suggested to be related to an increase in IGF-1 levels secondary to increased intra-ovarian androgen concentration, androgen receptors and expression of FSH receptors, leading to an increased number of pre-antral follicles entering the recruitment pool (Weil et al. 1998; Weil et al. 1999). It was also suggested that DHEA could enhance oocyte DNA repair and mitochondrial function, and hence improve overall oocyte quality (Pitteloud et al. 2005; Ménézo et al. 2010). Clinical trials, however, have failed to confirm a beneficial effect of DHEA on IVF outcome, despite initial optimistic small studies. The majority of those studies were not powered to detect differences in live birth rate and many were poorly designed.