Drug News Does testosterone really boost sexual desire in women?
By Sue Mueller
Nov 10, 2008 - 1:19:06 PM
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Some drug companies are pushing hard to sell a male
hormone called testosterone in forms of gel or patches to help women who
experience low sexual desire.
A recent trial showed testosterone patches more than
doubled sexual episodes in postmenopausal women with hypoactive sexual desire
disorder.
But Schover L R of University of Texas M. D. Anderson
Cancer Center early in July 2008 published a comment in Fertility and sterility
suggesting that testosterone should not be given to women with low sexual
desire until the efficacy and safety is demonstrated.
One major concern is that use of testosterone likely
increases risk of breast cancer. In the recent one-year trial, 4 out of more
than 500 patients were diagnosed with the disease compared to none in the
277-membered control group.
Some medical workers tried to play down the potential
risk, but studies have suggested that the risk is more than likely to be real.
Schover reviewed and critiqued recent randomized trials
of testosterone therapy for low sexual function or satisfaction.
He said "endogenous androgen levels are not
correlated with sexual desire in population-based studies of aging women."
The efficacy of testosterone therapy is modest while many
factors can affect women's low sexual desire such as pain with sexual activity,
emotional distress, life stress, and relationship conflict.
He pointed that expectancy effects were not adequately
considered in randomized trials and epidemiologic studies have linked higher
endogenous serum androgen levels to increased risk of breast cancer.
In conclusion, Schover said "testosterone
supplementation should not be prescribed to women with low sexual desire unless
long-term studies can demonstrate its efficacy and safety."
And "treatments for low sexual desire in women
should address its common correlates: relationship distress, emotional
distress, and dyspareunia."