NurseWeek

Testosterone patch fills female libido gap

By Grace Tsai, Ph.D.
Health24News
September 8, 2000


	You've read the article. Now tell us what you think. Related Sites HERS Foundation The New England Journal of Medicine

Washington (H24N).
Researchers from
Massachusetts General Hospital report that testosterone skin patches can improve the sexual function of women who have had their ovaries removed.

In the latest issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers explain that ovaries provide approximately half the circulating testosterone in premenopausal women, and after a hysterectomy, which removes the ovaries, many women often report impaired sexual functioning.

In the beginning of the study, 75 women ages 31 to 56 were divided into three groups. Group 1 received a placebo patch, group 2 received a patch with a low testosterone dose (150 micrograms), and group 3 received a patch with a high testosterone dose (300 micrograms). At the beginning and end of the 36-week study, all participants were asked to complete the brief Index of Sexual Functioning for Women survey, the Psychological General Well-Being Index and a sexual function diary over the telephone. By the end of the study, only 65 study participants were available for data analysis.

Researchers found that before the study, subjects scored 52 percent as high as other women on the sexual function survey. Those in the placebo group had scores that increased to 72 percent; group 2's score rose to 74 percent and group 3's improved to 81 percent.

Before the study, 23 percent of the group had intercourse at least once a week. After the study, among those who took the placebo and those in group 2, 35 percent reported having intercourse at least once a week, while 41 percent of group 3 reported having intercourse at least once a week. The women in group 3 also reported improved overall psychological well being.

Testosterone replacement therapy is not perfect, according to the Hysterectomy Educational Resources and Services Foundation (HERS), however. "No drugs or other treatments can replace ovarian or uterine hormones or functions. The loss is permanent," HERS states. The foundation also points out that a hysterectomy's damage is lifelong and can cause complications that include heart disease, painful intercourse, vaginal damage, urinary tract infections, chronic constipation and suicidal thinking.

Roughly 600,000 U.S. women undergo hysterectomies each year, with twice as many women in their 20s and 30s having hysterectomies as women in their 50s and 60s.