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Men and women develop similar complaints while aging1. Men experience like women an age-related decline of physical and mental capacity. They observe symptoms such as impaired memory, lack of concentration, nervousness, depression, insomnia, periodic sweating or hot flushes, bone & joint complaints, and reduction of muscle mass.
Unlike in women, complaints in aging males were - in the past - rarely put into the perspective of hormonal involution, although Werner [ 1 ] reported the similarity of male complaints with those of women in this age span as early as in the 1940s. The debate about male climacteric as well as its compatibility with the female situation have been discussed ever since. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ]
This requires discussion of the indication of hormone replacement also in males, and diagnostic instruments to assess changes of quality of life (QoL) related to treatment options.2. Sensations of sweating occurring suddenly and unexpectedly, especially at night, but also during the day, seem to be similarly common and men and women (Tab). It is our hypothesis that episodes of sweating might be an important symptom of changes in the course of aging presumably for males just as for females. However, the number of sweating attacks per week is higher in women.
[ Figure 1 ]3. AMS was developed in response to the lack of standardized scales to measure the severity of aging-symptoms and their impact on the HRQoL in males in the late 1990s.
[1]. Werner AA. The male climacteric: report of 273 cases. JAMA 1946; 132:188-94.[2]. Bauer J. The male climacteric - a misnomer. JAMA 1944; 126: 914-18 .
[3]. Degenhardt A. Wechseljahre beim Mann, gibt es sie? In: Fischer S, Streb-Lieder & Vogt, eds. Wechseljahre für Fortgeschrittene. Frankfurt: Verlag für akademische Schriften. 1995: 104-18.
[4]. McKinlay JB, Longscope CH, Gray A. The questionable phys. and epidemiologic basis for a male climac-teric syndrome: preliminary results from the Massachusetts Male Aging Study. Maturitas 1989; 11:103-5.
