It is important for doctors to consider the age
and sex of a patient when diagnosing endocrine disorders because the endocrine
system is a network of glands that produces and releases hormones that control
important body functions. Hormones affect the body different for people
depending on their age or their sex. Endocrine disorders may affect a teenage
boy differently to a grown woman. Women and men have different levels of
hormones like testosterone or estrogen at different stages of their lives. For
example, the boy would have endocrine glands such as the testes, the male
reproductive glands that produce sperm and sex hormones, that the women
would not have but would have ovaries, the female reproductive organs that
release eggs and produce sex hormones.
