Total serum cholesterol and urinary dehydroepiandrosterone in humans

The relationship between urinary excretion of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and total serum cholesterol was evaluated in an epidemiological study of coronary risk factors. The results of this study show statistically significant negative correlation (r = -0.238; P -0.014) between the urinary excretion of DHEA (mg/g creatinine) and total serum cholesterol. Total serum cholesterol (r = 0.278) and to a lesser extent. DHEA (R = 0.021) were found to be correlated with age. However, it was determined that the correlation between serum cholesterol and urinary DHEA was not attributable to the effect of age, since the partial correlation coefficient between serum cholesterol and urinary DHEA adjusted for age (r = 0.240) was found to be statistically significant (P less than 0.05). Negative but non-significant correlations were also found between urinary excretion of DHEA and many of the accepted risk factors for coronary heart disease.