menarche and menopause are well studied in females but is there any study which discribes the andrearche and andropause in males. does it really happen? and why the onset of puberty is different in males and females? why males lags almost two years than females?
Discussion and your valuable comments are highly appreciated.
Dear Dr. Gaur,
This is my question that why the answer is NO. We know that there is a point in the life time of a male when he actully starts producing mature sperms which could potentially fertilize ovum. The onset of puberty in both males and females doesn't happen at the same time in almost all societies. So again WHY the difference is there?
Andropause occurs in men and but why men have a lag in puberty is an open question in this field. In biology, the growth rate of girls is faster than that of age matched boys and body weight is an important factor in puberty at least other animals like cattle. On the other hand the life span of productive mating is shorter in women, therefor it seems economical they start their sexual life earlier and give service to older men to conserve generation of humankind.
The cause of gender differences in puberty timing are not known althought there are some proofs of genetic loci correlated with these differences. Genetics,adiposity, Kiss peptin, leptin, BMI are correlated with puberty onset but they do not explain why girls start puberty earlier than boys.
On the other side, I do not understand why are you putting in morrir menarche/menopause with adrenarche/andropause. Beside the fact that andropause is not as certain and suddenly as menopause (there is a lower androgen production but not an inactivation of testicles function), adrenarche is not the equivalent of menarche since it is commun to girls and boys and correlated with adrenal function.
Hope that my answer will be helpful.
Best regards
Carmen Vulpoi
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