Atlanta, GA—Clinicians and researchers from The Endocrine Society and other organizations across the country highlighted the critical need to improve tests for measuring steroid hormones, which are widely used in research and for clinical diagnosis. The poor performance and variable results of these tests are a public health concern because they hinder the work of physicians and researchers.

The experts voiced their concerns at a 2-day conference at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Ga., March 17-18, 2008.

The “CDC Workshop on Improving Steroid Hormone Measurements in Patient Care and Research Translation,” was designed to rally both the clinical and research community to address the need for standardization of tests for testosterone and estradiol.

Last year, in partnership with the Endocrine Society, the CDC started a standardization program for these tests, similar to the program that they established for standardizing tests for cholesterol and lipids over 50 years ago. A main impetus for this recent conference is that current widely used methods lack the sensitivity to measure testosterone and estradiol in the serum of women, children, and hypogonadal men.

In February 2007, The Endocrine Society issued a position statement outlining a series of recommendations to physicians ordering and using androgen assays. The statement, published in the February 2007 issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, called for standardizing the methods by which these assays are validated.

“There are serious problems with sensitivity and accuracy in testosterone assays, which need to be as accurate and reproducible as possible,” said Dr. William Rosner, professor of medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City, and member of the Society’s Androgen Assay Working Group, which studied the accuracy of the assays and prepared the Society’s statement. “The diagnosis and management of many serious medical conditions for women and men will depend to a large degree on highly accurate testosterone measurements.”

At the recent CDC meeting, Dr. Hershel Raff reviewed many of the recommendations from the Society’s position statement, including its principal recommendation:

Laboratory proficiency testing should be based on the ability to accurately and precisely measure a sample containing a known concentration of testosterone and not only on agreement with peers using the same method. When such standardization is in place, normative values for total testosterone and free testosterone should be established taking into account all the appropriate variables, e.g. gender, age, race, stage of puberty, time of day, etc. We believe that this goal can be accomplished. It has been done for cholesterol. “This is something that’s been a long time coming,” said Dr. Rosner. “We have the technology to hold all assays to the same high standard.”

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Founded in 1916, The Endocrine Society is the world's oldest, largest, and most active organization devoted to research on hormones and the clinical practice of endocrinology. Today, The Endocrine Society's membership consists of over 14,000 scientists, physicians, educators, nurses and students in more than 80 countries. Together, these members represent all basic, applied, and clinical interests in endocrinology. The Endocrine Society is based in Chevy Chase, Md. To learn more about the Society, and the field of endocrinology, visit our web site at www.endo-society.org.