Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T16:05:39.776Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Androgen Excretion and Physique in Schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

B. W. L. Brooksbank
Affiliation:
M.R.C. Neuropsychiatric Research Unit, Carshalton and West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey, England
David A. MacSweeney
Affiliation:
M.R.C. Neuropsychiatric Research Unit, Carshalton and West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey, England
Anthony L. Johnson
Affiliation:
M.R.C. Neuropsychiatric Research Unit, Carshalton and West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey, England
Ann E. Cunningham
Affiliation:
M.R.C. Neuropsychiatric Research Unit, Carshalton and West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey, England
David A. Wilson
Affiliation:
M.R.C. Neuropsychiatric Research Unit, Carshalton and West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey, England
Alec Coppen
Affiliation:
M.R.C. Neuropsychiatric Research Unit, Carshalton and West Park Hospital, Epsom, Surrey, England

Extract

A proportion of individuals suffering from schizophrenia show either physical or psychological signs of gonadal underfunction or incomplete sexual maturation (Hoskins, 1943; Hoskins and Pincus, 1949; Bleuler, 1954; Sands, 1957; Reiss, 1958; cf. Shader and Grinspoon, 1967). Rey and Coppen (1959) reported significantly lower, that is more feminine, androgyny scores (Tanner, 1962) in schizophrenic patients, although reduced scores were also found to a lesser extent in depressive and neurotic patients. Sex chromosome anomalies were not found in those patients with abnormally low androgyny scores (Cowie, Coppen and Norman, 1960), and it is possible that the abnormal physique is caused by some hormonal malfunction during development which also may be associated with a predisposition to psychiatric illness.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1970 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahmad, N., and Gower, D. B. (1968). ‘The biosynthesis of some androst-16-enes from C21 and C19 steroids in boar testicular and adrenal tissue.’ Biochem. J., 108, 233–41.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bleuler, M. (1954). Endokrinologische Psychiatrie, Stuttgart.Google Scholar
Brooksbank, B. W. L. (1962). ‘Urinary excretion of androst-16-en-3α-ol. Levels in normal subjects and effects of treatment with trophic hormones.’ J. Endocrinol., 24, 435–44.Google Scholar
Brooksbank, B. W. L. and Pryse-Phillips, W. (1964). ‘Urinary Δ16-androsten-3α-ol, 17-oxosteroids and mental illness.’ Brit. med. J., i, 1602–6.Google Scholar
Brooksbank, B. W. L. and Gower, D. B. (1970). ‘The estimation of 30-hydroxy-5α-androst-16-ene and other Δ16 C19 steroids in urine by gas liquid chromatography.’ Acta endocrinol. (in press).Google Scholar
Bulbrook, R. D., Thomas, B. S., and Brooksbank, B. W. L. (1963). ‘The relationship between urinary androst-i6-en-3α-ol and urinary 11-deoxy-17-oxo-steroid excretion.’ J. Endocrinol., 26, 149–53.Google Scholar
Bullmore, G. H. L., and Coppen, A. (1965). ‘Effects of chorionic gonadotrophin on adolescent psychiatric patients.’ Brit. J. Psychiat., 111, 733–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coppen, A., Julian, T., Fry, D. E., and Marks, V. (1967). ‘Body build and urinary steroid excretion in mental illness.’ Brit. J. Psychiat., 113, 269–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cowie, V., Coppen, A., and Norman, P. (1960). ‘Nuclear sex and body-build in schizophrenia.’ Brit. med. J., ii, 431–3.Google Scholar
De Wied, D. (1967). ‘Chlorpromazine and endocrine function.’ Pharmacol. Revs., 19, 251–88.Google Scholar
Eik-Nes, K. B., and Horning, E. C. (1968). Gas Phase Chromatography of Steroids. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York.Google Scholar
Garonne, G., Schifferli, P., and Voldet, G. (1957). ‘Elimination urinaire des hormones stéroides chez des schizophrènes.’ Schweiz. med. Wschr., 87, 1065–9.Google Scholar
Hoskins, R. G. (1943). ‘Psychosexuality in schizophrenia —some endocrine considerations.’ Psychosom. Med., 5, 39.Google Scholar
Hoskins, R. G. and Pincus, G. (1949). ‘Sex-hormone relationships in schizophrenic men.’ Psychosom. Med., 11, 102–9.Google Scholar
Ismail, A. A. A., and Harkness, R. A. (1966). ‘A method for the estimation of urinary testosterone.’ Biochem. J., 99, 717–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ismail, A. A. A., and Harkness, R. A. (1967). ‘Urinary testosterone excretion in men in normal and pathological conditions.’ Acta endocrinol., 56, 469–80.Google ScholarPubMed
Kelsey, F. D. (1965). ‘Androgyny in schizophrenics and their relatives.’ Brit. J. Psychiat., 111, 1159–64.Google Scholar
Kline, N. S., Blair, J., Cooper, T. B., Esser, A. H., Hackett, E., and Vestergaard, P. (1968). ‘A controlled seven-year study of endocrine and other indices in drug treated chronic schizophrenics.’ Acta psychiat. Scand., Suppl. 206.Google Scholar
Lingjaerde, O. (1953). ‘Adrenocortical functions in the insane.’ Acta psychiat. Scand., Suppl. 80, 202–16.Google Scholar
Mayer-Gross, W., Slater, E., and Roth, M. (1960). Clinical Psychiatry, London.Google Scholar
Oser, B. L. (1965). Hawk's Physiological Chemistry. London, New York.Google Scholar
Price, J. (1969). ‘An anthropometric comparison of psychiatric patients and their siblings.’ Brit. J. Psychiat., 115, 435–42.Google Scholar
Reiss, M. (1958). Psychoendocrinology. New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rey, J. H., and Coppen, A. J. (1959). ‘Distribution of androgyny in mental patients.’ Brit. med. J., ii, 1445–7.Google Scholar
Sands, D. E. (1957). ‘Endocrine changes in schizophenia,’ in Schizophrenia: Somatic Aspects (ed. Richter, ), London.Google Scholar
Schubert, K. and Frankenberg, G. (1968). ‘Zur Bestimmung der Testosterons und weiterer α,β-ungesättigter Ketosteroide der C19-Reihe im Harn.’ Endokrinol., 53, 322–36.Google Scholar
Shader, R. I., and Grinspoon, L. (1967). ‘Schizophrenia, oligospermia and the phenothiazines.’ Dis. nerv. System, 28, 240–4.Google Scholar
Suwa, N., Yamashita, I., Ito, K., Yoshimura, Y. and Moroji, T. (1966). ‘Psychic state and gonadal function: a psychophysiologic study of emotion.’ J. nerv. ment. Dis., 143, 3646.Google Scholar
Tanner, J. M. (1962). Growth at Adolescence. Oxford.Google Scholar
Thomas, B. S., and Walton, D. R. M. (1968). ‘Chloromethyldimethylsilyl ethers in the routine assay of urinary 11-deoxy-17-oxosteroids by gas-liquid chromatography.’ J. Endocrinol., 41, 203–11.Google Scholar
Vestergaard, P., Raabo, E., and Vedsø, S. (1966). ‘Determination of urinary testosterone in men, women and children.’ Clin. chim. Acta, 14, 540–52.Google Scholar
Wilson, H., Lipsett, M. B., and Korenman, S. G. (1963). ‘Evidence that 16–androsten-3α-ol is not a peripheral metabolite of testosterone in man.’ J. clin. Endocrinol. Metab., 23, 491–2.Google Scholar
Wotiz, H. H., and Clark, S. J. (1966). Gas Chromatography in the Analysis of Steroid Hormones New York.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.