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Taken from WWW.pubmed.gov (testosterone studies)
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2005 Dec;1055:80-92.
Effects of testosterone on cognitive and brain aging in elderly men.
Moffat SD
Institute of Gerontology, Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48202, USA.
moffat@wayne.edu
Older age is associated with functional declines throughout the body, including some aspects of cognitive
performance. While dementia develops in only some elderly individuals, declines in cognitive functioning
have an impact on daily living for many others. There are individual differences in age-related cognitive
changes, however, and the factors that contribute to this variability have not been well-characterized.
Recent evidence suggesting that age-related alterations in the endocrine environment may modulate cognitive
changes has generated considerable interest. Currently, there is a discordance between the rapidly expanding
number of studies of the possible neuroprotective effects of estrogens in postmenopausal women, and the
relative dearth of analogous research on the putative effects of testosterone on cognitive and brain
function in older men. This paper reviews the extant literature and reports new findings on the effects of
testosterone loss and supplementation on cognitive and brain function in elderly men. Preliminary evidence
suggests that testosterone loss may be a risk factor for cognitive decline and possibly for dementia.
Conversely, the maintenance of higher testosterone levels either endogenously or through exogenous
supplementation may prove beneficial for cognitive and brain function in elderly men. However, most studies
are associational in nature and the intervention studies are of short-duration testosterone exposure in
small samples of subjects. Large-scale placebo-controlled intervention studies are required to resolve
ambiguities in the literature. Testosterone intervention to ameliorate cognitive decline may be warranted
only when the efficacy and safety of longer-term use is firmly established.
PMID: 16387720 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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