ENDOCRINE STUDIES IN AGING

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Abstract
Fifty-two senile men and women between the ages of 66 and 92 years were studied. Urine assays of 17-ketosteroids, gonadotropin, and 11-oxysteroids were performed in order to compare the values with those obtained in young subjects, and to determine possible sex differences. In addition to general clinical appraisal of the degree of senility in each subject, a special search was made for degenerative changes in the eye, the large vessels of the leg, and the spine. Results of the hormone assays were compared with the degree of degenerative change encountered in order to discover any possible interrelationship. In the group as a whole 17-ketosteroid excretion was markedly lowered. Mean values during the 9th decade of life were no lower than during the 7th. When compared to normal young subjects of the same sex, the percentage decline in males was more severe than in females. This may be attributable to a decrease of both adrenal and testicular precursors in the former. Gonadotropin excretion exceeded the normal range in 70% of the aged women and 21% of the aged men. The presence of climacteric symptoms was in no way related to the observed levels of gonadotropin. Neither were gonadotropin values correlated in any way with ketosteroid levels. In women, as the post-menopausal interval increased, there was a tendency for gonadotropin titers to become lower than during the earlier post-menopausal period. Moreover, in many of the older men, subnormal values were encountered. Thus in later life it is possible that two opposite influences come to bear upon the pituitary[long dash]primary gonadal failure, which tends to enhance the secretion of gonadotropin, and a degenerative change of the pituitary which leads to a decreased secretion. Cortin in senile subjects was not excreted in decreased amt. The sustained level of adrenal corticoids which is thereby implied, in the face of a decline in ketosteroid precursors presumably of anabolic type, might conceivably contribute to certain degenerative changes, such as osteoporosis, which accompany the ageing process. It was however, not possible to demonstrate any correlation between any of the three hormone levels or their ratios and the severity of various degenerative changes, including osteoporosis, within the group itself.