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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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The making of an ageing disease
— the representation of the male menopause in Finnish medical literature | | Author(s) | Kirsi J Vainionpää, Päivi Topo |
| Journal title | Ageing and Society, vol 25, part 6, November 2005 |
| Pages | pp 841-861 |
| Source | http://journals.cambridge.org/ |
| Keywords | Older men ; Health [elderly] ; Biological ageing ; Drugs ; Literature reviews ; Finland. |
| Annotation | In the last 20 years, a new illness the male menopause has been introduced in popular magazines in Finland. This study investigates conceptions of the male menopause (also known as andropause) in the educational and professional literature of Finnish physicians from 1982 to 2002. The main point of interest was how the presentation of the male menopause and its treatments have changed. Published items for analysis were retrieved from the two main Finnish medical journals and from introductory gynaecology and urology textbooks using keywords for male ageing and hormones. There have been marked disagreements about the male menopause. While some authors describe it as a consequence of the decline in gonad functioning that comes with increased age, some argue that we are making a disease out of normal ageing, but its association with sexual problems has risen to prominence: libido and potency disorders have recently been identified as symptoms. The treatment provided for male menopause was androgens, about which opinions diverged, especially the effect of androgen therapy on cardiovascular diseases and osteoporosis. New forms of testosterone treatment have been eagerly adopted, but opinions varied on the appropriate duration of the therapies. By the early 2000s, the male menopause was increasingly likened to the female menopause, with emphasis on the similar symptoms. While gerontological thinking largely sees the male menopause as an aspect of ageing and a normal condition, the andrological approach regards it as a treatable disease and its rapid adoption can be seen as a reflection of both private and public concerns about increased longevity. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-051125002 A |
| Classmark | BC: CC: BH: LLD: 64A: 76L |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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