Attitudes of aging Athenians to andropenia and its consequences, and to potential hormone substitution therapy

This population-based study has attempted to chart and characterize aging men's perception of andropenia and its clinical consequences and their attitudes towards possible hormone replacement therapy in a fashion similar to that of postmenopausal women. To this end, a total of 160 men, aged 50-75 years, selected randomly from a population of 366 860 men of this age range, living in the Greater Athens area, were personally interviewed. The sets of questions asked were graded from 1 to 5 and were related to present and past general mood, physical fitness, mental condition, sexual activity and presence of symptoms of andropenia. A marked reduction in the mean scores for general mood, concentration, physical fitness, sexual mood and ability to initiate or maintain an erection and an increase in the incidence of hot flushes were observed in the subjects studied when their present condition was self-compared to their condition during their early forties. Moreover, significant correlations were observed between the scores for each of these parameters and advancing age in this sample. Questions related to the cause of the problems described, awareness of their possible relationship to andropenia and its long-term consequences, interest in additional information, need for expert advice and to the men's attitudes towards replacement therapy revealed low public awareness, acceptance of the symptoms as an inevitable part of the aging process, an interest in impersonal channels of information and severe apprehension about replacement therapy because of fear of side-effects. These results provide a suitable platform to formulate appropriate communication strategies and to launch efforts to educate this age section of the population about their age-specific problems and the possible therapies for relief.