Newswise — EDMONTON — A pair of University of Alberta pharmacy professors have published guidelines to help pharmacists support men experiencing late-onset hypogonadism, also known as “male menopause” or “manopause.”
Unlike women’s menopause, which usually occurs over a few years in the 50s, men’s sex hormones may start to drop as early as the late 20s, with symptoms progressing gradually over subsequent decades.
Fatigue, weight gain and low libido are just three of the symptoms middle-aged and older men face as their testosterone levels decline, but many don’t realize what’s going on, according to lead author Cheryl Sadowski, professor in the Faculty of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences.
The new guidelines, published in the Canadian Pharmacists Journal, are designed to give pharmacists the tools to screen patients, address risk factors, initiate and counsel for lab testing, and collaborate with primary care physicians to manage treatment, said co-author Nathan Beahm, assistant clinical professor.
“Pharmacists may see patients more often than physicians and interact with them more,” Beahm said. “Pharmacists can engage in screening and ask some initial questions to identify patients who might benefit from treatment and might otherwise slip through the cracks of the system.”
The researchers said the evidence so far indicates that 50 per cent of men will experience symptoms at some time during their lives, but more study is needed to determine the exact prevalence of late-onset hypogonadism.
The full article can be accessed here.
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