Davis Susan R
Women's Health Research Program, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, 553 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia.
Endocrinol Metab Clin North Am. 2021 Mar;50(1):113-124. doi: 10.1016/j.ecl.2020.11.002. Epub 2021 Jan 11.
The role of testosterone in women and its potential as a therapeutic agent continue to attract controversy. The clinical trials of testosterone therapy for women primarily have focused on treatment of female sexual dysfunction, with the largest placebo-controlled studies being of transdermal testosterone in postmenopausal women. Based on the cumulative data from these studies, loss of sexual desire with associated personal distress currently is the only agreed-on indication for judicious testosterone supplementation for postmenopausal women. This article reviews the physiology of testosterone in women, summarizes the findings from observational studies and clinical trials, and considers indications for testosterone use.
