Clinical Question: Is a subdued le...

Clinical Question: Is a subdued level of serum testosterone associated with depressed sexual desire in women?

Setting: Population-based

contemplation Design: Cross-sectional

Synopsis: In this thought investigators randomly sampled community-dwelling women who were 18 to 75 years of age and living in Victoria, Australia. Exclusion criteria included passing from hand to hand use of psychiatric medication, abnormal thyroid function, documented polycystic ovary syndrome and rife use of oral contraception in women factor editor for evidence-based medicine younger than 45 years. Sexual desire and function were measured using a prevalidated questionnaire.

The investigators fix no significant association between a soft level of total testosterone, unrestrained testosterone, or androstenedione and a reasonable score for sexual desire and function. Women with depressed scores for sexual desire and function were more likely to have a serum dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA) on a level below the 10th percentile for their age arrange but the majority of women with a reasonable level of DHEA did not have gentle sexual function. Because only 1021 consenting women from an initial dispose of 15,621 met all inclusion criteria, these issues may not be generalizable to all women

Bottom Line: soft levels of total and liberated testosterone are not associated with subdued sexual desire and function in women A serum DHEA of the same height below the age-adjusted 10th percentile is a better marker for soft sexual desire and function, further the majority of women with a subdued level of DHEA do not have sexual dysfunction. There is no evidence to support the measurement of serum testosterone in women with depressed sexual desire or function. The practice of prescribing exogenous testosterone for women with grave sexual desire or function requires further consideration and should not be routine. (Level of Evidence: 2c)

DAVID SLAWSON, MD

reflection Reference: Davis SR, et al. Circulating androgen of the same heights and self-reported sexual function in women JAMA July 6 2005;294:91-6

Used with permission from Slawson D reasonable testosterone not associated with female sexual dysfunction. Accessed online August 22 2005 at: http://www.InfoPOEMs.com.

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