Correlation between the Japanese Aging Male Questionnaire (JAMQ) and Aging Male’s Symptom (AMS) scale in Japanese male

Figures & data

Table 1. JAMQ.

		None	Moderate	Severe	Very severe
1	Feel generally ill and tend to be in a bad mood	1	2	3	4
2	Have difficulty sleeping	1	2	3	4
3	Feel anxious/lonely	1	2	3	4
4	Tend to be more nervous and feel depressed	1	2	3	4
5	Experience hot flushes and excessive sweating	1	2	3	4
6	Experience palpitations, shortness of breath, and sometimes have difficulty breathing	1	2	3	4
7	Experience dizziness and nausea	1	2	3	4
8	Get tired easily	1	2	3	4
9	Have pain in my lower back and in the joints of my hands and feet	1	2	3	4
10	Have headaches, feel heavy-headed, and have stiff shoulders	1	2	3	4
11	Feel stiffness in my arms and legs	1	2	3	4
12	Feel numbness or tingling in my arms or feet	1	2	3	4
13	Find it hard to urinate or it takes a long time to finish urinating	1	2	3	4
14	Frequently feel the urge to urinate during the night.	1	2	3	4
15	Have difficulty controlling my bladder and sometimes experience incontinence	1	2	3	4
16	Feel that my libido has decreased	1	2	3	4
17	Have diminished erectile strength	1	2	3	4
18	Frequency of sex	>1, 2 times in 2 weeks	1, 2 times/month	<once/month	None

Table 2. AMS Questionnaire.

	Which of the following symptoms apply to you at this time? Please, mark the appropriate box for each symptom. For symptoms that do not apply, please mark “none”.
	Symptoms:	none	mild	moderate	severe	Extremely severe
		|	|	|	|	|
	Score=	1	2	3	4	5
1.	Decline in your feeling of general well-being (general state of health, subjective feeling)	□	□	□	□	□
2.	Joint pain and muscular ache (lower back pain, joint pain, pain in a limb, general back ache)	□	□	□	□	□
3.	Excessive sweating (unexpected/sudden episodes of sweating, hot flushes independent of stain)	□	□	□	□	□
4.	Sleep problems (difficulty in falling asleep, difficulty in sleeping through, waking up early and feeling tired, poor sleep, sleeplessness)	□	□	□	□	□
5.	Increased need for sleep, often feeling tired	□	□	□	□	□
6.	Irritability (feeling aggressive, easily upset about little things, moody)	□	□	□	□	□
7.	Nervousness (inner tension, restlessness, feeling fidgety)	□	□	□	□	□
8.	Anxiety (feeling panicky)	□	□	□	□	□
9.	Physical exhaustion/lacking vitality (general decrease in performance, reduced activity, lacking interest in leisure activities, feeling of getting less done, of achieving less, of having to force oneself to undertake activities)	□	□	□	□	□
10.	Decrease in muscular strength (feeling of weakness)	□	□	□	□	□
11.	Depressive mood (feeling down, sad, on the verge of tears, lack of drive, mood swings, feeling nothing is of any use)	□	□	□	□	□
12.	Feeling that you have passed your peak	□	□	□	□	□
13.	Feeling burnt out, having hit rock-bottom	□	□	□	□	□
14.	Decrease in beard growth	□	□	□	□	□
15.	Decrease in ability/frequency to perform sexually	□	□	□	□	□
16.	Decrease in the number of morning erections	□	□	□	□	□
17.	Decrease in sexual desire/libido
	(lacking desire for sexual intercourse)	□	□	□	□	□
	Have you got any other major symptoms?	Yes	□	No	□
	If Yes, please describe:

Table 3. Patients’ characteristics.

	Age group (years)		Total
	<50	50–64	≥65
Number of patients	32	24	4	61
				36–71
Testosterone levels	349.3	368.7	331.1	367.7
(ng/dl)	54.5–760.8	72.6–810.8	228.2–603.2	54.4–810.8
Free testosterone	11.5	14.1	9.7	12.1
levels (pg/ml)	2.4–19	2.2–22.7	6.3–13.8	2.2–27.5
Total JAMQ	35.5	34	36	35
Scores (Q1–17)	18–62	20–34	29–42	18–62
Total AMS Scores	46.5	43	42.5	46
	23–73	22–69	40–47	22–73

Upper row: Median, Lower row: Minimum - Maximum values

Total testosterone levels, free testosterone levels, total JAMQ scores and total AMS scores were not significantly different between all age groups.

Figure 1. Factor Patterns of AMS and JAMQ (Varimax Rotation).

Table 4. Subgroups of JAMQ.

Subgroups	Questions	# of questions	Scoring
Somatic factors	6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12	6	24 total points
Psychological factors	1, 2, 3, 4, 8	5	20 total points
Sexual factors	5, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17	6	24 total points
Sexual activity	18	1	4-point scale

Because sexual activity is asked in a different way, this question is not included with the other questions for statistical analysis. Sexual activity was analyzed as a separate factor additionally because it is believed that standard sexual activity varies greatly by individual.

Table 5. Coefficient of correlation between the JAMQ and AMS scores.

	AMS
	Total	Somatic factors	Psychological factors	Sexual factors
JAMQ
Total	0.844	0.856	0.851	0.884
Somatic factors	0.635	0.673	0.641	0.635
Psychological factors	0.856	0.838	0.912	0.856
Sexual factors	0.670	0.613	0.591	0.670

p < 0.0001.

The totals of the AMS and JAMQ scores and the factors that were common in both tests had a coefficient of correlation between 0.670 to 0.912 and showed significant correlation.

Table 6. Correlation of JAMQ and AMS scores with the levels of sexual hormones.

	JAMQ				AMS
	Somatic	Psychological	Sexual	Somatic	Psychological	Sexual
Testosterone levels	−0.010	0.048	0.167	−0.064	0.052	0.104
	0.9376	0.7173	0.2025	0.6276	0.6968	0.4297
Free testosterone levels	0.094	0.154	0.121	0.001	0.144	0.162
	0.4912	0.2598	0.889	0.9963	0.2921	0.2333

Upper row: Coefficient of correlation, Lower row: p

Each subgroup of the AMS and JAMQ scales did not correlate with the testosterone and free testosterone levels.