Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate (DHEA-S)

DHEAS is mostly made in the adrenal glands, two small glands located above your kidneys. Your adrenal glands help control your heart rate, blood pressure, and other body functions. They make different types of hormones you need to stay healthy. This includes cortisol, a hormone that helps with your immune system, and DHEAS, a steroid hormone.

DHEAS is a type of androgen (male sex hormone), but it's found in both men and women. Smaller amounts of DHEAS are made in the testicles and ovaries. DHEAS plays an important role in making the male sex hormone testosterone and the female sex hormone estrogen. DHEAS helps with the development of male sexual characteristics at puberty and reproduction for both sexes. Your DHEAS levels peak around puberty and then get lower as you age.

If your DHEAS levels are not normal, it may mean there is a problem with your adrenal glands or sex hormones (estrogen or testosterone). The test can also help evaluate women with excess body or facial hair (hirsutism) or other signs of high male hormones, and it can help look into very early signs of puberty in children (premature adrenarche).

If your results show high levels of DHEAS, it may be a sign of conditions such as congenital adrenal hyperplasia (an inherited disorder of the adrenal glands in which the adrenal glands produce too many male sex hormones), a tumor of the adrenal gland (which may be benign or cancerous), or polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a common hormone disorder affecting childbearing women and one of the leading causes of female infertility. In rare cases, a high level of DHEAS could be a sign of an ovarian tumor.

If your results show low levels of DHEAS, it may be a sign of Addison disease, a disorder in which the adrenal glands are not able to make enough of certain hormones, or hypopituitarism, a condition in which the pituitary gland does not make enough of one or more of the pituitary hormones.

If you have questions about your results, talk to your provider. To understand the results of a DHEA sulfate test, your provider will consider your symptoms, age, sex, medical history, and the results of other blood tests.