Live Life Team
A commentary by Steven Roose, M.D., of Columbia University, on Medscape suggests a there is a major public health time bomb that is starting to tick louder than ever. There are some 35 million people over 65 living in the US, and it is calculated that this figure will increase to 70 million by 2030, while the over 85 bracket will double to 8 million. The proportion of the population over 65 is anticipated to increase from 13 to 20 percent by 2030.
Men who have reached 50 are often at the peak of their professions, and are mostly in perfect health. However, they are also entering a period where they are at greater risk of life-threatening and quality-of-life diseases including sexual dysfunction, cerebrovascular diseases, and suicidal depression.
The connection between depression and heart disease and stroke is familiar. As for the connection between erectile dysfunction and depression, a number of studies have recorded cases of depressed males who were no longer dysfunctional after their depression was cured. Erectile dysfunction is also a result of taking antidepressants, though the opposite can happen, where depression is caused by the frustration of protracted erectile dysfunction. The bottom line may be, though, that vascular disease may cause erectile dysfunction and depression.
A 2003 Harvard study of 56 depressed males that were not responding well to antidepressants discovered that 24 men had low testosterone levels. Of these, 12 were allotted a transdermal testosterone gel, along with antidepressants. At the end of several weeks, one third of the males that had received testosterone gel showed significant improvement in their anxiety and depression scores.
