Abstract
Catecholamine excretion was studied in two groups of nonhospitalized subjects, 60 and 80 years of age, N = 35 and 29, respectively.
Urinary 24h dopamine excretion exhibited an age-related decline (p = 0.001). There was a sex difference for dopamine excretion; men had higher excretion levels (p = 0.04). Twenty-four-hour excretion of epinephrine and norepinephrine was slightly higher in 60- than in 80- year-old individuals (NS). Smoking was associated with a considerable increase in epinephrine (p = 0.001) and norepinephrine (p = 0.04) excretion. Body mass index was negatively correlated to epinephrine excretion (r = −0.27; p < 0.05). When analyzed with a multi-way analysis of variance with analysis of covariance, significant influences of age on dopamine excretion, of creatinine clearance on dopamine and norepinephrine excretion, and of smoking on epinephrine excretion were seen. Thus, factors such as age, gender, body mass, kidney function and smoking habits considerably influence catecholamine excretion in elderly people (Aging 3: 263–268, 1991).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Korenman S.G.: Endocrine Aspects of Aging. Elsevier Biomedical, New York, 1982, pp. 1–7.
Gregerman R.I., Bierman E.L.: Aging and hormones. In: Williams R.H. (Ed.), Williams’ Textbook of Endocrinology, ed 6. W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia, 1982, pp. 1192–1212.
Morrow L.A., Linares O.A., Hill T.J., Sanfield J.A., Supiano M.A., Rosen S.G., Halter J.B.: Age differences in the plasma clearance mechanisms for epinephrine and norepinephrine in humans. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 65: 508–511, 1987.
Bullington J., Mouton Perry S.M., Rigby J., Pinkerton M., Rogers D., Lewis T.C., Preganz P., Wood A.J.J., Wood M.: The effect of advancing age on the sympathetic response to laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation. Anesth. Analg. 68: 603–608, 1989.
Docherty J.R.: Cardiovascular responses in ageing: a review. Pharm. Rev. 42: 103–125, 1990.
Smedes F., Kraak J.C., Poppe H.: Simple and fast solvent extraction system for selective and quantitative isolation of adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine from plasma and urine. J. Chromatogr. 231: 25–32, 1982.
Solberg H.E.: Approved recommendation (1987) on the theory of reference values. Part 5. Statistical treatment of collected reference values. Determination of reference limits. J. Clin. Chem. Clin. Biochem. 25: 645–656, 1987.
Wilkinson L.: SYSTAT: The System for Statistics. SYSTAT Inc., Evanston, IL, 1988.
Wallin B.G., Sundlöf G., Eriksson B-M., Dominiak P., Grobecker H., Lindblad L.E.: Plasma noradrenaline correlates to sympathetic muscle nerve activity in normotensive man. Acta Physiol. Scand. 111: 69–73, 1981.
Featherstone J.A., Veith R.C., Flatness D., Murburg M.M., Villacres E.C., Halter J.B.: Age and alpha-2 adrenergic regulation of plasma norepinephrine kinetics in humans. J. Gerontol. 42: 271–276, 1987.
MacGilchrist A.J., Hawksby C., Howes L.G., Reid J.L.: Rise in plasma noradrenaline with age results from an increase in spillover rate. Gerontology 35: 7–13, 1989.
Esler M., Skews H., Leonard P., Jackman G., Bobik A., Korner P.: Age dependence of noradrenaline kinetics in normal subjects. Clin. Sci. 60: 217–219, 1981.
Kopin I.J.: Catecholamine metabolism: basic aspects and clinical significance. Pharm. Rev. 37: 333–364, 1985.
Kärki N.T.: The urinary excretion of noradrenaline and adrenaline in different age groups, its diurnal variation and the effect of muscular work on it. Acta Physiol. Scand. 39 (Suppl 132): 1–96, 1956.
Brown M.J., Causon R.C., Barnes V.F., Brennan P., Barnes G., Greenberg G.: Urinary catecholamines in essential hypertension: results of 24-hour urine catecholamine analyses from patients in the medical research council trial for mild hypertension and from matched controls. Q.J. Med. 57: 637–651, 1985.
Jenner D.A., Harrison G.A., Prior I.A.M., Leonetti D.L., Fujimoto W.Y.: 24-h Catecholamine excretion: relationships with age and weight. Clin. Chim. Acta 164: 17–25, 1987.
Olsson T., Viitanen M., Hägg E., Asplund K., Grankvist K., Eriksson S., Gustafson Y.: Hormones in “young” and “old” elderly: pituitary-thyroid and pituitary-adrenal axes. Gerontology 35: 144–152, 1989.
Horky K., Marek J., Kbpecka J., Gregorova I.: Influence of age on orthostatic changes in plasma renin activity and urinary catecholamines in man. Physiol. Bohemoslov. 24: 481–488, 1975.
Lee M.R.: Dopamine and the kidney. Clin. Sci. 62: 439–448, 1982.
Bell C.: Dopamine release from sympathetic nerve terminals. Prog. Neurobiol. 30: 193–208, 1988.
Yoneda S., Tomioka H., Fukuyama M., Lee L-C., Iyota I., Okajima H., Inoue A., Sasaki S., Takeda K., Takahashi H., Yoshimura M., Nakagawa M., Ijichi H.: Peripheral origin of plasma dopamine. Jpn. Circ. J. 49: 1028–1034, 1985.
Freedman L.S., Ohuchi T., Goldstein M., Axelrod F., Fish I., Dancis J.: Changes in human serum dopamine-β-hydroxylase activity with age. Nature 236: 310–311, 1972.
Suzuki H., Haruyuki N., Kawamura M., Yoshizawa M., Takeshita E., Saruta T.: Excretion and metabolism of dopa and dopamine by isolated perfused rat kidney. Am. J. Physiol. 247: E285–E290, 1984.
Unger T., Buu N.T., Kuchel O.: Renal handling of free and conjugated catecholamines following surgical stress in the dog. Am. J. Physiol. 235: F542–F547, 1978.
Rowe J.W., Troen B.R.: Sympathetic nervous system and aging in man. Endocr. Rev. 1: 167–179, 1980.
Clarke P.B.S.: Nicotine and smoking: a perspective from animal studies. Psychopharmacology 92: 135–143, 1987.
Winternitz W.W., Quillen D.: Acute hormonal response to cigarette smoking. J. Clin. Pharmacol. 17: 389–397, 1977.
Reynolds V., Jenner D.A., Palmer C.D., Harrison G.A.: Catecholamine excretion rates in relation to life-styles in the male population of Otmoor, Oxfordshire. Ann. Hum. Biol. 8: 197–209, 1981.
Tucci J.R., Sode J.: Chronic cigarette smoking: effect on adrenocortical and sympathoadrenomedullary activity in man. JAMA 221: 282–285, 1972.
Barnes R.F., Raskind M., Gumbrecht G., Halter J.B.: The effects of age on the plasma catecholamine response to mental stress in man. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 54: 64–68, 1982.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Olsson, T., Viitanen, M., Hägg, E. et al. Catecholamine excretion in old age. Aging Clin Exp Res 3, 263–268 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03324017
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03324017