Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate and mortality in elderly men and women

Dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate levels have been inversely related with card iovascular mortality in men, but findings have been inconsistent, and there are few data in women. We examined the relationship between baseline circulating dehydroepiandrost erone sulfate levels and subsequent all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in 963 men and 1171 women, 65-76 yr old, surveyed in 1991-1995, and followe d up until August 2000 (when 296 deaths had occurred). All-cause and cardiovascular disease mortality rates were highest in the lo west dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate quartile in men; and thereafter, rates did not differ significantly in the upper three quartiles. This pattern rem ained after excluding those with previous history of cardiovascular disease and, in multivariate analyses, was independent of age, cigarette smoking h abit, systolic blood pressure, body mass index, blood cholesterol, and ster oid use. There was no significant association of dehydroepiandrosterone sul fate and mortality in women. The multivariate adjusted relative risks for all-cause mortality by sex-spe cific increasing quartile of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate were 1.00, 0.66 (95% confidence interval, 0.44-1.01), 0.70 (0.46-1.07), 0.73 (0.48-1.10), respectively, for men and 1.00, 0.71 (95% confidence interval, 0.41-1.24), 0.97 (0.58-1.62), and 1.14 (0.69-1.88), respectively, for women. In older men and women, there is no consistent relationship between dehydro epiandrosterone sulfate and all-cause or cardiovascular mortality. The high est mortality rates were observed in the lowest quartile in men, but the hi ghest rates were in the highest quartile in women.