Endocrinology

The European Male Ageing Study (EMAS)

Overview

Our researchers in endocrinology are studying a diverse range of hormone action and its clinical application across the lifespan. This will involve researching how hormone-secreting glands are put together during development and how this can go wrong. We will also be investigate exploiting hormone action for drug discovery and safety, which links to the work done at the Manchester Centre for Nuclear Hormone Research in Disease .

Problem

With an ageing population there also comes a broad range of problems and disabilities that have enormous impact on wellbeing, health and economies.

There is an urgent need for large observational studies to document the development of changes in elderly men’s healthr elated to ageing, and investigate their relationships with hormonal decline and other potential predisposing risk factors.

What we have achieved to date

The European Male Ageing Study (EMAS), hopes to look into discovering the details and frequency of symptoms that men experience as they age. In men, there is good evidence that many hormones, e.g. testosterone (especially free testosterone), dehydroepiandrosterone and growth hormone, decline progressively with age after the fourth decade.

The study has defined a new syndrome called ‘late onset hypogonadism’. This syndrome is a deficiency of the male hormone, testosterone, resulting in major implications for male wellbeing and health. This has led to new trial designs looking at intervention to treat the disorder.

In total, 3200 men from eight different countries in Europe took part in the study of men aged between 40 and 79 years old. Following on from defining ‘late onset hypogonadism’ syndrome, our work has been published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine in 2010 and has led to new trial designs looking at intervention to treat the disorder.

What we aim to achieve

The exact relationships, however, between falling levels of circulating hormones in elderly men and the ageing related symptoms, morbidity and health outcomes are unclear. It is hoped that benefits could arise from developing new treatments to address these issues.

For more information about research in endocrinology please visit The University of Manchester website.