Relationships between age, dehydro-epiandrosterone sulphate and plasma glucose in healthy men

Background: dehydro-epiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS) has been reported to a meliorate diabetes mellitus in rats. Aim: we investigated the relationships between plasma glucose, age, serum D HEAS and weight in healthy men. Methods: we measured the serum DHEAS, fasting plasma glucose, plasma cortis ol and body mass index in 169 subjects (mean age 46.5 years). Results: there was a significant decline in serum DHEAS with age (P < 0.000 1). Multiple linear regression showed significant relationships with plasma glucose for all measured variables. Age was not a significant determinant of plasma glucose after adjusting for log serum DHEAS, body mass index and log serum cortisol. Conclusions: a lowered serum DHEAS is paralleled by an elevated plasma gluc ose within the normal reference interval, and this may contribute to the ri se in fasting plasma glucose which occurs with ageing.