ORIGINAL ARTICLE Are andropause symptoms related to depression? Shahla Khosravi • Hasan Eftekhar Ardebili • Bagher Larijani • Saharnaz Nedjat • Alireza Nikbakht Nasrabadi • Mehrdad Eftekhar Ardebili • Soheila Dabiran • Esmaeil Samizadeh Received: 29 September 2014 / Accepted: 18 February 2015 Ó Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 Abstract Background Andropause is a middle-age condition in which men experience changes in their physical, spiritual and emotional health. The association between andropause and psychological symptoms such as depression are not very clear yet. Aims The objective of this study was therefore to deter- mine the association between the ‘Aging Males Symptoms Scale’ (AMS) and depression. Methods A cross sectional study was conducted among 521 old men. To collect data, the AMS and the Patient Health Questionnaires 2 and 9 were used to screen de- pression, in addition to questions on background and fer- tility. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to assess the association between andropause symptoms and depression. Results Based on our results and the AMS score, 51.5 % of the study population had clinical symptoms of androgen disorder, 3.7 % of which had severe symptoms. There was a strong correlation between the AMS score and depres- sion. Depression, diabetes, cigarette smoking and spousal age retained their significant associations even after en- tering the relevant demographic, anthropometric, smoking and disease variables in the multivariable model. As a positive predictive factor, depression had the strongest association with AMS. Conclusions Based on our results, there is a direct asso- ciation between andropause symptoms and depression, where the increasing AMS score corresponds with the severity of depression. Discussion Our results show the need of screening for depression when evaluating andropause symptoms. S. Khosravi (&) Department of Community Medicine, Faculty Member of Medicine, Tehran School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Poorsina Avenue, Ghods Avenue, Enghelab St., Tehran, Iran e-mail: khosravi785@yahoo.com; shahla_khosravi@sina.tums.ac.ir H. E. Ardebili Department of Health Promotion and Education, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran B. Larijani Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran S. Nedjat Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Knowledge Utilization Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran A. Nikbakht Nasrabadi Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing, Tehran School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran M. E. Ardebili Mental Health Research Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran S. Dabiran Department of Community Medicine, Faculty Member of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran E. Samizadeh Department of Pathology, Aja University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran 123 Aging Clin Exp Res DOI 10.1007/s40520-015-0341-4