Study Links Oral Contraceptives and Smoking to Changes in Steroid Hormone Levels - Video

Steroid hormone levels in healthy adults are influenced by oral contraceptives and smoking, as well as other lifestyle choices and factors such as biological sex and age, according to new research that has just been published in leading international journal Science Advances.

The objective of the research was to expand knowledge and understanding of steroid hormone levels, including corticoids and sex hormones, in healthy women and men over a broad age range. This is the first study to analyse such a large number of hormones in nearly 1,000 healthy people, filling a major gap in the knowledge of molecules that are important for our day-to-day well-being.

The team involved in this current study found that hormone levels vary according to an individual’s age and sex, but that they are also associated with many other factors, such as genetics and common behaviours.

Notably, many steroid hormone levels, beyond sex hormones, are influenced by oral contraceptive use in women, while in men, smoking was associated with altered levels of nearly every steroid hormone measured.

Additionally, measurement of hormones in the same donors 10 years after the original visit showed that decreases in specific androgens were associated with diverse diseases in aging men, implying that these hormones – which are associated with physical characteristics, and supporting strong bones and red blood cell production – play a role in disease development.

This finding – among others – gives the team numerous avenues to pursue in future research.

Ref: Deltourbe LG, Sugrue J et al. Steroid hormone levels vary with sex, aging, lifestyle, and genetics. Sci Adv. 2025 Mar 28;11(13):eadu6094. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adu6094. Epub 2025 Mar 28. PMID: 40153492.