’Frail men may lack testosterone`

Washington: Frailty in older men may be
linked to lack of testosterone, a new study has claimed.

"This is an important finding because frailty is
poorly understood. We don`t completely understand how people
become frail, but our study suggests that testosterone might
play a role in men.

"Not everyone becomes frail as they age, so we`re
hoping to find out why some people develop this condition. Not
only will this improve people`s quality of life as they age,
but healthier populations require less medical treatment,
reducing the demand on the health system," said lead author
Zo Hyde of Western Australian Centre for Health and Ageing.

Frailty is a state that occurs when a person
nears the limits of their health reserves, so that when they
are confronted by an event they might ordinarily be able to
handle, it instead leads to more serious illness or death.

"There have been tremendous gains in life expectancy
in recent decades, but we want to make those extra years of
life healthier," said Hyde.

The researchers measured frailty by looking for
impairment in at least three of five areas. These included:
fatigue; difficulty climbing a flight of stairs; difficulty
walking more than one block; having more than five major
medical conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease or
arthritis; or an unintentional weight loss of more than five
per cent during the follow-up period.

PTI

Zee News App: Read latest news of India and world, bollywood news, business updates, cricket scores, etc. Download the Zee news app now to keep up with daily breaking news and live news event coverage.