DHEA-S test: normal range by age, what results mean and price

A DHEA-S test measures dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, or DHEA sulfate, in a blood sample. DHEA-S is a hormone made mostly by the adrenal glands, which the body turns into testosterone and oestrogen. Doctors use it to see whether the adrenal glands are a source of extra androgens or are making less than expected, and because it falls steadily with age, every result is read against an age band.

What DHEA-S is

The adrenal glands sit above the kidneys and make several hormones, cortisol among them. DHEA-S is one of their main outputs. It is classed as an androgen, a male-type sex hormone, but both sexes make it, and smaller amounts come from the ovaries and testes. The body uses it as raw material for testosterone and oestrogen, and it plays a part in the changes of puberty.

Levels peak around puberty and early adult life and then fall through the decades, in both men and women. Because most of it comes from the adrenal glands, a DHEA-S result points a doctor at those glands specifically, which is what makes it useful beside testosterone.

Normal DHEA-S range

DHEA-S is reported in µg/dL or µmol/L. MedlinePlus, the US National Library of Medicine's health information service, gives these typical adult ranges:

The ranges are wide and they shift with every decade, so the same number can be ordinary at 55 and low at 25. Methods differ too: the 2023 international PCOS guideline asks laboratories to use validated, highly accurate tandem mass spectrometry assays when DHEA-S is measured to assess androgens. Read your result against the range on your own report, for your age and sex.

What a high DHEA-S usually points to

A high DHEA-S suggests the adrenal glands are making more androgen than usual. In women, extra androgens can show as excess facial or body hair, acne, irregular periods or thinning hair on the top of the head. Men often notice nothing.

• Polycystic ovary syndrome. DHEA-S can be raised in PCOS. The 2023 international guideline uses total and free testosterone to judge raised androgens, and says DHEA-S could be considered when those are normal, noting that it is less specific and falls more with age.
• Congenital adrenal hyperplasia. An inherited condition in which the adrenal glands make too much androgen, described by MedlinePlus as a common genetic disorder.
• An adrenal tumour. These can be benign or cancerous. The PCOS guideline advises that androgen levels well above the reference range, or symptoms that start suddenly or progress fast, should prompt a search for other causes, including adrenal and ovarian growths.
• Early puberty in girls. MedlinePlus lists this as well.

A doctor reading a high DHEA-S usually looks at testosterone and SHBG beside it, and asks about symptoms and how quickly they came on. Tests such as 17-hydroxyprogesterone, cortisol studies or adrenal imaging follow when the pattern calls for them.

What a low DHEA-S usually points to

DHEA-S falls naturally with age, so a lower value in an older adult is expected. Below the range for your age and sex, it can point to adrenal glands making less hormone, as in adrenal insufficiency and Addison disease, or to a pituitary gland that is not driving them (hypopituitarism). Glucocorticoid medicines, the steroid tablets, inhalers and creams used for inflammation, also lower it.

The Endocrine Society's guideline on adrenal insufficiency calls a DHEA-S well below the lower limit for age and sex a useful early sign of primary adrenal insufficiency, but not one that can make the diagnosis alone. A doctor would look next at morning cortisol, ACTH and a stimulation test.

What moves DHEA-S

• Age and sex. These are the largest factors: levels are highest in young adults, run lower in women than in men, and fall with each decade.
• DHEA supplements. In a 1994 trial, nightly DHEA raised DHEA-S in people aged 40 to 70 to young-adult levels within two weeks. Mention any such supplement before the test.
• Steroid medicines. Glucocorticoids lower DHEA-S.
• Biotin. Some hormone tests use biotin in their chemistry, and in a small study a biotin dose found in over-the-counter supplements made some of them read falsely high or falsely low.

Preparing for the test

MedlinePlus says no special preparation is needed for a DHEA-S test. Tell the person taking the sample about any supplement containing DHEA or DHEA-S, any steroid medicine and any biotin, and keep taking prescribed medicines unless your doctor has said otherwise.

How Clare's panel handles DHEA-S

In Clare's panel, DHEA-S is measured by the lab. It sits beside morning cortisol, the other adrenal hormone in the panel, and beside total testosterone and SHBG, which are needed to read any androgen result.

Price

DHEA-S is usually sold within a female hormone test rather than on its own. When we read public prices on 11 October 2026, a female hormone test cost from 289 to 1,800 at 10 UAE providers, and the packages that included DHEA-S were among the larger ones, at 1,399 to 1,600. VAT was rarely stated, some figures were offer or "from" prices, some of the dearest packages included specialist consultations, and home collection can add a fee.

Related tests

DHEA-S is read with Total Testosterone, Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin (SHBG) and Morning Cortisol. It is part of the Female hormone test, and the Testosterone test and the Cortisol test cover the other two sides. Our guide to a comprehensive blood test in Dubai explains why hormones such as DHEA-S belong in a full panel.

Why DHEA-S means more over time

DHEA-S drifts down with age in everyone, so a result is easiest to read against your own earlier values and your age band. A slow decline over the years is the expected pattern. A sharp change between two results, in either direction, is the kind of thing worth showing a doctor, with both results in front of them. Clare is opening with a waitlist at clare.health.