Skip to content
Blood Test Tracker

DHEA (Dehydroepiandrosterone, Unconjugated)

A hormone made mostly by the adrenal glands that the body uses as a building block for sex hormones. It differs from DHEA-S, and levels fall steadily with age.

AI-verified against cited sources. Awaiting expert reviewAlso called DHEALOINC 2193-1

Check your result

Sex (optional)

Type your result to see where it falls.

Nothing you type here leaves your browser.

What it is

DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) is a hormone made mostly by the adrenal glands, with a smaller share from the ovaries and testes. The body uses it as raw material for testosterone and estrogen. Most of what the adrenal glands make is released as DHEA sulfate (DHEA-S), which circulates at more than 100 times the level of DHEA. This test measures the unconjugated (unsulfated) form. Levels rise in childhood, peak in early adulthood, and then decline with age.

Why it matters

Clinicians use DHEA, along with other hormones, to look at where extra male-type hormones may be coming from, for example in women with excess hair growth, acne or irregular periods, and in children with early signs of puberty. It can also be part of work-ups of the adrenal glands. In most settings, DHEA and DHEA-S results can be used interchangeably (Mayo). Mayo notes that DHEA levels have not been firmly linked to well-being or to disease risk, and that there are no established guidelines for DHEA supplements or for checking them with blood tests.

If it’s low

A result below your lab's range for your age is common as people get older, because DHEA falls steadily across adult life. Less often it reflects low adrenal or pituitary hormone output, or steroid medicines that quiet the signal (ACTH) that drives DHEA production. A low result on its own doesn't tell a clinician what to do. The context, such as your age, symptoms and other hormone results, matters more.

Common causes

  • Older age, since levels decline steadily and may reach about a fifth of the peak by later life
  • Steroid medicines such as prednisone, which reduce ACTH and so reduce adrenal hormone production
  • Adrenal insufficiency or pituitary conditions that lower ACTH (uncommon)
  • Rare inherited differences in adrenal enzymes (uncommon)

What can help

  • Ask your clinician whether the result fits your age and other hormone tests
  • Bring a list of steroid medicines you take or recently stopped
  • Ask whether other adrenal tests, such as cortisol or ACTH, are worth discussing

If it’s high

A result above your lab's range for your age means the adrenal glands, ovaries or testes are making more DHEA than usual, or that you are taking a DHEA supplement. Mild increases in adults are common and often have no clear cause. Much higher results can lead clinicians to look for an enzyme difference called congenital adrenal hyperplasia, or, rarely, an adrenal tumor. A single result can't tell these apart, so clinicians usually add other hormone tests.

Common causes

  • DHEA supplements
  • Age and puberty: levels are naturally higher in early adulthood, and they rise before puberty (check the range for your age)
  • In children, the adrenal glands starting to make hormones earlier than usual (premature adrenarche)
  • A morning blood draw when your lab's range assumes a different time of day
  • Congenital adrenal hyperplasia, an inherited difference in adrenal enzymes (uncommon)
  • An androgen-producing adrenal tumor (rare)

What can help

  • Tell your clinician about every supplement you take, including DHEA
  • Ask whether DHEA-S, testosterone and other hormones should be checked along with it
  • Ask whether the test should be repeated in the morning at the same lab

Usual ranges

What labs print as the reference range, by who was tested. Ranges differ a little between labs, so the range on your own report is the one your result is judged against.

The usual range depends on age. Choose an age to see the one that applies.

Children and teens 7 ranges

See DHEA by age and sex, with the U.S. survey numbers where they exist.

What can affect your result

  • Age: levels rise before puberty, peak by about age 20, and decline over the following decades
  • Sex and menopause status: several labs print different ranges for men and women
  • Time of day: DHEA is higher in the morning
  • DHEA supplements raise the result
  • Acute stress can briefly raise it
  • Assay method and lab: intervals differ widely between labs
  • DHEA supplements raise the result. Mayo notes that most DHEA supplements contain DHEA itself, so tell your clinician about any you take.
  • Acute stress can briefly raise DHEA. In pooled studies it peaked at the end of the stress and returned to baseline about an hour later.
  • Serum separator (gel) tubes aren't accepted for this test at Mayo and Quest. Use the tube your lab specifies.
  • The sample is fragile at room temperature (Labcorp lists 6 hours), so it needs to be refrigerated or frozen quickly.
  • Intervals differ widely between labs and methods, so compare results from the same lab.

Morning. ARUP asks for collection between 6 and 10 a.m. DHEA follows a daily rhythm like cortisol, so the time of the draw matters. DHEA's half-life is short, about 30 minutes, so a result reflects the last few hours. DHEA-S, which lasts about 16 hours, gives a steadier picture.

When to talk to a clinician

There is no emergency threshold for DHEA, and a result outside your lab's range is not urgent on its own. Talk with the clinician who ordered it, especially if you have new or fast-growing facial or body hair, a deepening voice, or periods that have stopped, or if a child has signs of early puberty. Mayo notes that very high results, around five times the upper limit of the range or more, are a reason to look further for a cause.

Questions you could ask

  • Should DHEA be checked in the morning, and at the same lab each time?
  • Would DHEA-S tell us more than DHEA does?
  • Could a DHEA or other supplement I take explain this result?
  • Should we also look at DHEA-S, testosterone or other hormones?
  • Does this result fit my age and any symptoms I have?
  • Is this result expected for my age?

Questions people ask

How is DHEA different from DHEA-S?

DHEA-S is the sulfated form, and it makes up most of the DHEA-type hormone in your blood. It stays steady through the day. DHEA is the unsulfated form. It is much lower, changes through the day and has a short half-life. In most settings either can be used (Mayo).

Why do the ranges on different labs' reports look so different?

DHEA tests are not standardized, and labs build their ranges from different groups of people and methods. For young adults, upper limits range from about 700 to about 1,760 ng/dL across four large labs. Compare your result with the range printed on your own report.

How do I convert the units?

Multiply ng/dL by 0.0347 to get nmol/L, so 300 ng/dL is about 10.4 nmol/L. Multiply ng/mL by 100 to get ng/dL.

Show the science and sources

Units

  • 1 ng/dL = 1 ng/dL
  • 1 ng/dL = 0.03467 nmol/L
  • 1 ng/dL = 0.01 ng/mL

Open the DHEA unit converter

For clinicians and researchers

DHEA is the principal human C19 steroid. It has very low androgenic potency but is a major direct or indirect precursor of most sex steroids. Its production is partly controlled by ACTH. Most DHEA is secreted as the 3-sulfate (DHEA-S), and circulating DHEA-S is more than 100-fold higher than DHEA. Both are albumin bound, DHEA-S much more tightly (Mayo). DHEA's half-life is about 30 minutes, versus about 16 hours for DHEA-S (2021 meta-analysis). Serum DHEA-S shows little variation across the day, while DHEA secretion follows a diurnal rhythm similar to cortisol (Endotext). DHEA and DHEA-S fall by 80% or more within weeks of birth, stay low until adrenarche (about age 7-8 in girls and 8-9 in boys), peak near age 20, and decline to about 20% of peak over the next 40-60 years (Mayo). Intervals vary a lot with the method: by LC-MS/MS, adult upper limits range from about 701 ng/dL (Labcorp) and 778 ng/dL (ARUP, ages 18-39) to 1,300 ng/dL (Mayo, ages 19-30) and 1,760 ng/dL (Quest, men). Pediatric and neonatal intervals are method- and age-specific. Mayo notes that DHEA or DHEA-S above about five times the upper limit can suggest an androgen-secreting adrenal tumor (raised in over 90% of such tumors), that congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 3-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase deficiency is linked to high DHEA and DHEA-S in small children, that STAR or 17-alpha-hydroxylase deficiency is linked to low levels, and that DHEA and DHEA-S play a secondary role in congenital adrenal hyperplasia next to cortisol and cortisone, 17-hydroxyprogesterone and androstenedione. ARUP does not recommend it for the initial evaluation of polycystic ovary syndrome. Quest describes it as useful for determining the source of androgens in hyperandrogenic conditions such as PCOS and adrenal tumors.

LOINC 2193-1 (primary), 2196-4, 15054-0. Specimen: serum.

Sources

  1. Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) (test 004100), Labcorp
  2. Endocrinology Expected Values and S.I. Unit Conversion Tables (DHEA, HPLC-MS/MS, test 500156), Labcorp (Endocrine Sciences)
  3. DHEA, (Dehydroepiandrosterone), Unconjugated (test code 19894), Quest Diagnostics
  4. Dehydroepiandrosterone, Serum or Plasma (ARUP test 2001640), ARUP Laboratories
  5. DHEA_: Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), Serum, Mayo Clinic Laboratories
  6. Dehydroepiandrosterone (PubChem CID 5881), PubChem (NIH)
  7. Adrenal Androgens and Aging, Endotext (NCBI Bookshelf)
  8. DHEA as a Biomarker of Stress: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, Frontiers in Psychiatry (2021)

AI-verified against cited sources. Awaiting expert review. Last reviewed 2026-10-03. How we build and check these pages.

Related markers