title: Testosterone in newly diagnosed, antipsychotic-naive men with nonaffective psychosis: a test of the accelerated aging hypothesis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Schizophrenia has been associated with age-related abnormalities, including abnormal glucose tolerance, increased pulse pressure, increased inflammation, abnormal stem cell signaling, and shorter telomere length. These metabolic abnormalities and other findings suggest that schizophrenia and related disorders might be associated with accelerated aging. Testosterone activity has a progressive decline with increasing age.
  
  
  METHODS
  We tested the hypothesis that circulating biologically active testosterone is lower in newly diagnosed, antipsychotic-naive male patients with nonaffective psychosis than in matched control subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients (n = 33) were matched to control subjects (n = 33) for age, sex, body mass index, socioeconomic status of the family of origin, and smoking. The free androgen index, a measure of biologically active testosterone, was significantly lower in the psychosis group (mean [standard deviation] = 57.7% [26.1]) than in control subjects (71.6% [27.0], p = .04), with an effect size of 0.53. Multivariate analysis also supported the findings. In the psychosis group, free androgen index had a significant negative correlation with the conceptual disorganization item (r = -0.35, p = .049) but not with reality distortion (r = -0.21, p = .24), negative symptoms (r = 0.004, p = .98), or depression (r = -0.014, p = .94).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Lower testosterone level is consistent with accelerated aging in nonaffective psychosis, but further testing of this hypothesis is needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry - Level 4, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Box 189, Cambridge CB2 0QQ, United Kingdom. ef280@cam.ac.uk
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fernandez-Egea
authors.forename: Clemente
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: García-Rizo
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Eduard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Parellada
authors.forename: Azucena
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Justicia
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bernardo
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kirkpatrick
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000375:Aging / Q000097:blood / Q000502:physiology* / Q000652:urine; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000652:urine; D013739:Testosterone / Q000097:blood* / Q000652:urine*; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D013739:Testosterone