Menopause Care -Testosterone and Libido

Take a pill or slap on a patch and feel your sex drive rev into top gear. It is an attractive concept for many, and one that the pharmaceutical industry is busy exploring for obvious reasons. Not that proof was needed, but the Viagra experience has shown them the potential rewards of a female aphrodisiac.

Postmenopausal women with a reduced libido are a group who have been identified as a target and they have already been officially stamped with a diagnosis – HSDD (hypoactive sexual desire disorder). Now they just need the treatment.

A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine investigated the effect of testosterone on 814 women with HSDD. The women were randomly assigned to wear testosterone (in two different strengths) or placebo patches for 52 weeks. All the patches were identical and neither doctor nor patient knew who was having active or placebo treatment. The investigators recorded the frequency of “satisfying sexual episodes” in every month.

They found that after 24 weeks the frequency of satisfying sexual episodes was significantly greater in the group using the stronger testosterone patch compared to the placebo group. The group using the weaker testosterone patch were not significantly different to the placebo group. However, the group with the stronger testosterone patch had to put up with a higher rate of unwanted hair growth, and four of the testosterone subjects developed cancer of the breast compared to none in the placebo group.

The authors described the effect of the stronger testosterone patch as a “modest but meaningful improvement in sexual function.” They also warned that the long term effects of testosterone, including effects on the breast are uncertain. It looks as though we will all have to wait a little longer for that elusive magic aphrodisiac.

Reference:

Testosterone for Low Libido in Postmenopausal Women not taking Oestrogen. Davis SR, Moreau M, Kroll R et al NEJM 2008;359(19):2005-17