Other names: dhea-s, dhea-sulfate, DHEA SULFATE, Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate (DHEA-S), dhea-sulfate, DHEAS, Dehydroepiandrosterone [DHEA-S], DHEA SULPHATE
Optimal Result:
71.6 - 375.4 mcg/dL,
or
1.94 - 10.17 umol/L.
Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is a naturally occurring steroid hormone produced mainly by the adrenal glands, with smaller amounts synthesized in the gonads (ovaries and testes) and the brain. DHEA acts primarily as a precursor for the body’s major sex hormones—testosterone and estrogen—meaning it is converted into these hormones as needed. This role is crucial for reproductive function, mood regulation, metabolism, immune function, and maintaining overall hormonal balance in both men and women.
Hormone Precursor: DHEA is converted into androgens (like testosterone) and estrogens, supporting the development of secondary sexual characteristics and reproductive health.
Neurosteroid: DHEA has effects in the central nervous system, acting as a neurosteroid that can influence mood, cognitive function, and memory.
Metabolic and Immune Effects: It modulates endothelial function (essential roles in maintaining blood vessel health and regulating blood flow), reduces inflammation, improves insulin sensitivity, supports fat metabolism, and may enhance immune response.
Antioxidant Properties: DHEA may help combat oxidative stress and inflammation.
| Feature | DHEA (Free Form) | DHEA-S (Sulfated Form) |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | Active, free hormone | Sulfated, more stable in bloodstream |
| Production Site | Adrenal glands, gonads, brain | Primarily adrenal glands |
| Circulation Time | Shorter | Longer |
| Measurement | Less commonly measured | Preferred for blood tests |
| Clinical Use | Reflects immediate hormone status | Reflects overall DHEA production |
DHEA-S (dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate) is the sulfated, more stable form that circulates in higher concentrations in the blood and is the preferred marker for assessing DHEA production in laboratory tests. DHEA-S can be converted back to DHEA within cells as needed.
Newborns: High levels that drop rapidly after birth.
Puberty: Levels rise, supporting sexual development.
Early Adulthood: Peak levels.
After Age 30: Gradual decline, with levels decreasing by up to 80% by the 70s or 80s.
Low DHEA or DHEA-S levels are associated with aging, adrenal dysfunction, and several health conditions, while abnormally high levels may indicate hormonal imbalances or adrenal disorders.
DHEA is available as a dietary supplement and is sometimes used with claims of improving mood, energy, bone density, muscle strength, and sexual function, as well as slowing aging. However, scientific evidence supporting many of these uses is limited or mixed, and DHEA supplementation can have side effects and risks, especially if used without medical supervision.
DHEA is a key hormone precursor produced mainly in the adrenal glands, essential for the synthesis of testosterone and estrogen, and plays roles in metabolism, immune function, and neurological health. DHEA-S is the stable, circulating form measured in blood tests to assess adrenal and hormonal health. Both forms decline with age, and abnormal levels can indicate various health issues.
Elevated levels of DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) or DHEA-S (DHEA sulfate) can indicate increased androgen activity and may be linked to various hormonal or adrenal conditions. While DHEA is a natural steroid hormone involved in the production of testosterone and estrogen, excessively high levels—especially in women—can result in symptoms of androgen excess and signal an underlying endocrine disorder.
1. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS):
One of the most common causes in women. PCOS is characterized by irregular menstrual cycles, infertility, hirsutism (excess hair growth), acne, and weight gain due to insulin resistance and elevated androgen levels.
2. Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH):
A group of inherited genetic disorders that affect the adrenal glands' ability to produce hormones. In some forms, the body produces excess androgens like DHEA, leading to symptoms similar to PCOS, even in childhood.
3. Adrenal Tumors (Benign or Malignant):
Tumors in the adrenal glands can lead to overproduction of DHEA or other hormones. While many are benign (adrenal adenomas), some may be cancerous or hormonally active.
4. Adrenal Hyperplasia (Non-CAH):
Overgrowth of adrenal gland tissue can result in higher-than-normal hormone production without a genetic cause.
5. Early-Onset Puberty (Premature Adrenarche):
In children, elevated DHEA may cause early signs of puberty, such as body odor, acne, and the development of pubic or underarm hair at an unusually young age.
6. Stress (Acute or Chronic):
DHEA is part of the body’s stress response. Acute stress may temporarily raise levels, while chronic stress might disrupt the balance of DHEA and cortisol.
7. DHEA Supplementation or Medications:
Exogenous DHEA supplements and certain drugs (such as hormonal therapies or corticosteroids) can elevate DHEA or DHEA-S in the bloodstream.
Irregular or missed menstrual periods (amenorrhea)
Excess facial or body hair (hirsutism)
Oily skin and persistent acne
Hair thinning or scalp hair loss (male-pattern baldness)
Deepening of the voice (in severe cases)
Enlargement of external genitals in girls (virilization)
Mood changes, including anxiety, irritability, or depression
Fatigue or low energy
Weight gain and signs of insulin resistance
Early puberty in children
Persistently high levels of DHEA or DHEA-S are markers of androgen excess and can guide the evaluation of adrenal or ovarian function. Blood tests for DHEA-S are commonly ordered as part of a hormonal panel when symptoms suggest hormonal imbalance, PCOS, adrenal disorders, or premature puberty.
The treatment plan depends on the underlying cause of elevated DHEA levels:
Oral contraceptives: Help regulate menstrual cycles and reduce androgen-related symptoms.
Anti-androgen medications: Such as spironolactone, which can reduce hair growth and acne.
Metformin: Improves insulin sensitivity and may help lower androgen levels.
Lifestyle interventions: Weight loss, a low-glycemic diet, and regular exercise are often first-line recommendations.
Glucocorticoid therapy: Medications like hydrocortisone can help suppress excess androgen production.
Specialist care: Ongoing monitoring by an endocrinologist is essential for hormone regulation and fertility planning.
Surgical removal: Tumors that produce excess DHEA, especially if malignant or causing severe symptoms, may require surgery.
Monitoring: Benign adrenal nodules may be observed with periodic imaging and hormone testing.
Pediatric endocrinology evaluation: Hormonal therapy may be needed to delay puberty progression and normalize growth patterns.
Stress management: Techniques such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), mindfulness, sleep hygiene, and exercise can help rebalance adrenal hormones.
Nutritional support: Adaptogenic herbs and targeted nutrients (with medical guidance) may support adrenal health.
Discontinuation or dose adjustment: Review and adjust any supplements or prescriptions that may be contributing to elevated levels, under medical supervision.
If your bloodwork shows elevated DHEA or DHEA-S—especially alongside symptoms of hormonal imbalance—it's important to consult a healthcare provider. Further testing may be necessary to evaluate adrenal and ovarian function and rule out more serious conditions.
Summary
High DHEA or DHEA-S levels often point to excess androgen production, commonly seen in conditions like PCOS, adrenal tumors, and congenital adrenal hyperplasia. These imbalances can lead to significant symptoms affecting appearance, mood, metabolism, and fertility. Fortunately, with accurate diagnosis and individualized treatment—ranging from medications to lifestyle changes—hormone levels can often be managed effectively.
Import lab results from multiple providers, track changes over time, customize your reference ranges, and get clear explanations for each result. Everything is stored securely, exportable in one organized file, and shareable with your doctor—or anyone you choose.
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Please check the age and gender specific reference ranges in the "Research" section.
Although DHEA levels decline naturally with age, they may also be lowered by conditions such as:
- Autoimmune disease such as Addision's disease, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis.
- Chronic stress
Unfortunately, some of the medications used to treat symptoms of these illnesses can also deplete DHEA in the body. Do not attempt to adjust the dosage of your medication on your own. If your DHEA is low, your doctor will sugget the best way to remedy the problem.
If chronic stress is behind decreased DHEA, do your best to eliminate the source of stress from your life. Getting at least eight hours of sleep every night can also help reduce strew, as can exercising aerobically for approximately thirty minutes a day, three to four times a week. As low DHEA levels may be associated with inflammation, it is wise to cut back on foods that can have an inflammatory reaction in your body.
Laboratories
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Designed for professionals managing their clients' lab reports
About membership
Import Lab Results from Any Source
Easily upload lab results from any provider, whether it's a hospital, independent lab, or home testing service. We support PDFs, scanned documents, and JPEGs from patient portals. No need to log in to multiple platforms — everything is centralized in one secure space.
Easily upload lab results from any provider — we support PDFs, scans, and images. Keep all your reports organized in one secure place.
See Your Health Timeline
Every lab result is automatically organized on a chronological timeline, giving you a complete picture of your health journey. Whether you're tracking a condition, managing treatments, or staying proactive, the timeline helps you and your doctor understand how things progress over time.
Every lab result is automatically organized on a chronological timeline, giving you a complete picture of your health journey.
Understand What Your Results Mean
Whether it's a blood test, GI panel, urinalysis, or something else, lab reports measure numerous biomarkers that reveal what's happening inside your body. Our extensive database covers over 10,000 biomarkers, providing clear, simple explanations of what each result means and how you can take action—no matter your membership level. Say goodbye to confusion and get the insights you need to better understand your health.
Our database covers over 10,000 biomarkers with clear, simple explanations—so you can finally understand your results and what to do next.
Enter Your Lab Reports Yourself — Always Free
Enter Your Lab Reports — Always Free
If you'd like to handle inputting your health data into your account, you can do so with our easy-to-use data entry forms. Our user-friendly form is designed to guide you through the quick and easy submission process, making it simple to keep track of your health metrics. This is available to both Complete plan and Unlimited plan members.
Our user-friendly form guides you through a quick, simple submission process, making it easy to enter your health metrics.
Add your results anytime with our easy entry form. It's quick, guided, and helps you stay organized — free for all members.
Visualize Your Results
View your lab data through easy-to-read graphs and tables. Quickly spot patterns, track changes, and compare results across different dates — all without digging through multiple reports. You can also select and compare graphs of specific biomarkers side-by-side to better understand how they relate and change over time.
See your lab reports in clear graphs and tables. Spot patterns, track changes, and compare results over time — all in one place.
Export Your Complete Lab History in a Single File
Export Your Complete Lab History
After collecting lab results from different providers, you can download your entire history combined into a single file. Choose from PDF, Excel, or CSV formats to easily review, share, or get a second opinion—no more juggling multiple reports.
After collecting lab results from different providers, you can download your entire history combined into a single file.
Comprehensive Data Entry Service for Your Reports
Data Entry Service for Your Reports
Our inclusive service handles the data entry for your lab reports. Just submit your information and we'll take care of the rest. Complete plan members receive one report entered for free, then $15 per report after that. Unlimited plan members receive ten report entries for free, then $15 per report after that.
Our inclusive service handles the data entry for your lab reports. Just submit your information and we'll take care of the rest.
Securely Share With Anyone You Trust
Whether you're working with a doctor, nutritionist, caregiver, or wellness coach, you can securely share your complete lab history by sending an invite link to anyone you trust. You have full control over who sees your information and for how long, ensuring your privacy and peace of mind at every step.
Share your full lab history with your doctor, nutritionist, or coach using a secure invite link.
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I have been using Healthmatters.io since 2021. I travel all over the world and use different doctors and health facilities. This site has allowed me to consolidate all my various test results over 14 years in one place. And every doctor that I show this to has been impressed. Because with any health professional I talk to, I can pull up historical results in seconds. It is invaluable. Even going back to the same doctor, they usually do not have the historical results from their facility in a graph format. That has been very helpful.
Anthony
Unlimited Plan Member since 2021
What fantastic service and great, easy-to-follow layouts! I love your website; it makes it so helpful to see patterns in my health data. It's truly a pleasure to use. I only wish the NHS was as organized and quick as Healthmatters.io. You've set a new standard for health tracking!
Karin
Advanced Plan Member since 2020
As a PRO member and medical practitioner, Healthmatters.io has been an invaluable tool for tracking my clients' data. The layout is intuitive, making it easy to monitor trends and spot patterns over time. The ability to customize reports and charts helps me present information clearly to my clients, improving communication and outcomes. It's streamlined my workflow, saving me time and providing insights at a glance. Highly recommended for any practitioner looking for a comprehensive and user-friendly solution to track patient labs!
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Healthmatters Pro Member since 2024
Healthmatters is a personal health dashboard that helps you organize and understand your lab results. It collects and displays your medical test data from any lab in one secure, easy-to-use platform.
With a Healthmatters account, you can:
Professionals can also analyze client data more efficiently and save time managing lab reports.
Healthmatters.io personal account provides in-depth research on 4000+ biomarkers, including information and suggestions for test panels such as, but not limited to:
You can combine all test reports inside your Healthmatters account and keep them in one place. It gives you an excellent overview of all your health data. Once you retest, you can add new results and compare them.
If you are still determining whether Healthmatters support your lab results, the rule is that if you can test it, you can upload it to Healthmatters.
While we work with many popular labs, we welcome reports from lots of other places too.
It's as simple as this: if you can get a test done, you can upload it to Healthmatters and we can interpret results from any lab out there. If laboratories can analyze it, we can interpret it.
If you're on the hunt for a specific biomarker, contact us and we'll add it to our database. Anything from blood, urine, saliva, or stool can be uploaded, understood, and tracked with your Healthmatters account.
The Complete Plan ($15/month) is perfect for individuals who want ongoing access to their health data. It includes unlimited lab imports, visual tracking, custom ranges, result explanations, full account exports, and secure sharing — all with a simple monthly subscription. You can cancel anytime and restart your plan whenever you're ready — your data will still be there waiting for you. You can also upgrade to the Unlimited Plan at any time, with the cost prorated based on what you've already paid.
The Unlimited Plan ($250 one-time) is also designed for individuals but offers lifetime access with no ongoing subscription. You'll get all the same features as the Complete Plan, plus a larger initial data entry allowance (10 reports), making it a great choice if you prefer a one-time payment and long-term use without monthly fees.
In short:
There are two ways to add your test reports to your Healthmatters account. One option is to input the data using the data entry forms. The other method is to utilize our "Data entry service."
Our data entry forms offer an easy, fast, and free way for you to input the reports yourself. Self-entry allows you to add an unlimited number of reports at no cost. We make the self-entry process user-friendly, providing dozens of templates that pre-populate the most popular laboratory panels and offering instant feedback on entered values.
For those who prefer assistance, we offer a "Data entry service" to help you input your data. Simply attach an image or file of your lab test results, and a qualified team member from our data entry team will add the results for you.
We support various file types, including PDFs, JPGs, or Excel. This service is particularly useful if you have many reports to upload or if you're too busy to handle the data entry yourself.
Our Data Entry Service is for when you don't want to manually type in your lab results yourself. You simply upload your report (PDF, image, or screenshot), and our trained team enters the information into your Healthmatters account for you — accurately and neatly organized, ready to view in graphs, tables, and timelines.
The $15 per report covers the time and care it takes for a real person to review your file, make sure each result is entered correctly, and double-check for accuracy. This ensures your health data is precise and easy to work with — without you having to spend the time doing it yourself.
Prefer to do it yourself? You can always use our free self-entry tool to add results manually — it just takes a bit more time and attention.
For users on the Complete monthly plan, the first report is entered free of charge, and each additional report incurs a fee of $15.
Unlimited account holders enjoy the entry of ten reports without charge. Subsequent reports are subject to a $15 fee per report.
Additionally, users on the Complete plan can upgrade to a yearly subscription from the account settings. The annual subscription includes a data entry service for five reports.
All professional accounts allow you to import and onboard an unlimited number of clients and their lab results. The distinction between professional plans lies solely in the data entry service.
The Pro Monthly Plus plan is priced at $75 per month and includes a data entry service for five reports each month. Additional reports can be self-entered at no extra cost or, if preferred, you can use our data entry service for an additional fee of $15 per report.
The Pro Monthly plan is priced at $45 per month and does not include a data entry service. Self-entry is free for an unlimited number of reports, and you can opt for the data entry service at a fee of $15 per report.
You also have the option to upgrade to higher monthly or to annual plans, which come with substantial discounts. All upgrades can be done directly from your account.
Simply log in and navigate to your account settings to cancel your subscription. Scroll down to locate the 'Cancel' button at the bottom of the page. Ensure you cancel at least one day before the renewal date to prevent any charges. Once cancellation is requested, the subscription remains active until the conclusion of the current billing cycle.
Our goal has been to make your Healthmatters account as intuitive as possible.
We've crafted multiple ways for you to navigate your data, whether you're glancing at a single report or delving into your historical test reports.
1. Graph View:Dive into a visual journey with our biomarker graphs, showcasing over 40 data points. Combining years of results unveils trends, empowering you to make informed decisions. Our visualization tools make it a breeze to compare and understand changes over time, even if your results are from different labs. A search function and filters simplify the exploration of extensive data, allowing you to focus on what needs attention.
2. All Tests ViewExplore neatly organized reports on a timeline, highlighting crucial details like dates, critical results, and lab/panel names. Each report opens up to reveal in-depth descriptions and additional recommendations for each biomarker. The history of previous results is just a click away, and you can download a comprehensive report for deeper insights. Color-coded and user-friendly, it's designed for easy reading, understanding, and navigation.
3. Table View:For a holistic view of all biomarkers side by side, our table view is your go-to. Results are neatly displayed in a categorized and dated table, ideal for those with an extensive test history. Utilize sorting, filters, and color-coding to enhance your analysis and gain extra insights.
Yes, you can download your information anytime. We offer two easy ways to export your lab data:
This makes it simple to save, back up, or share your health data whenever you need.
Yes, you can print your report. To do so, navigate to "All tests" and open the report you wish to print. You'll find a print button in the right corner of the report. Click on it, and your browser's print window will open. If you prefer to print in a bigger typeface, adjust the scale using the print window settings.
Yes, you can! We highly recommend activating Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) for your account. To do so, please navigate to the "Profile and Security" section of your account, where you will find instructions for activating 2FA.
Yes, you can. When entering values for the biomarker, you will see an "Edit Range" button. Click this button, and you'll have the option to enter a custom range.
A personal account is all about keeping your own lab test results in check. It's just for you and your personal use.
The professional account is designed for health professionals who wish to track and organize their clients' laboratory results.
To learn more about Healthmatters Pro, please refer to the professional page.
At HealthMatters, we're committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of your personal information. We've put industry-leading security standards in place to help protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information under our control. We use procedural, physical, and electronic security methods designed to prevent unauthorized people from getting access to this information. Our internal code of conduct adds additional privacy protection. All data is backed up multiple times a day and encrypted using SSL certificates. See our Privacy Policy for more details.
