Testosterone patch for women

Aug 16 2007

Novel research published in the current issue of The Journal of Sexual Medicine supports the claim that women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder or HSDD (persistent or recurrent deficiency and/or absence of sexual fanatasies/thoughts, and/or desire for, or receptivity to, sexual activity, which causes personal distress) show noted improvement in sexual desire and sexual function following low dose testosterone treatment.

Two randomized double-blind, placebo controlled trials in surgically postmenopausal (uterus and ovaries removed) women with HSDD demonstrated that transdermal testosterone patch treatment resulted in significant improvements in the frequency of satisfying sexual activity and sexual desire, as well as a decrease in sexual distress.

A total of 132 participants from the 2 trials were interviewed after a 6-month treatment period regarding their experience with the treatment. Results revealed a significant increase in frequency of satisfying sexual activity and sexual desire based on women experiencing the treatment as beneficial. Those women had an average increase in sexual activity of 4.4 times per 4 weeks. In contrast, women who did not experience a benefit had only a 0.5 increase in activity per 4 weeks.

"More women on testosterone experienced a meaningful benefit (52 percent vs. 31 percent) and, in fact, the odds of experiencing a meaningful benefit on testosterone were 2.4 times greater than that of placebo," says Sheryl Kingsberg, principal author of the study. Since the women were also able to judge for themselves whether or not the treatment was beneficial, those who experienced benefit were interested in continuing treatment.

"These findings not only confirm the clinical effectiveness of transdermal testosterone, but provide benchmarks for the degree of improvement in sexual function that all future therapies for this disorder should try to attain," says Jan Shifren, co-author of the study.

"This is an especially relevant clinical study in the field of sexual medicine," said Dr. Irwin Goldstein, Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Sexual Medicine. "These important data reinforce the positive value that treatment with the low dose testosterone patch can bring to the quality-of-life of surgically post-menopausal women with HSDD."

Dr. Sheryl Kingsberg is an Associate Professor and Chief, Division of Behavioral Medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at MacDonald Women's Hospital, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Dr. Jan Shifren is Associate Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA.

Dr. Irwin Goldstein is Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Sexual Medicine; Director, Sexual Medicine at Alvarado Hospital, San Diego, California; Director, San Diego Sexual Medicine, San Diego, California; and Clinical Professor of Surgery, University of California, San Diego.

Drs. Kingsberg, Shifren and Goldstein are available for questions and interviews. To arrange for a telephone interview, please contact [email protected].

The Journal of Sexual Medicine publishes multidisciplinary basic science and clinical research to define and understand the scientific basis of male and female sexual function and dysfunction. As the official journal of the International Society for Sexual Medicine, the five regional societies which are affiliated with it and the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health, it provides healthcare professionals in sexual medicine with essential educational content and promotes the exchange of scientific information generated from basic science and clinical research. For more information please visit www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/jsm.

The International Society for Sexual Medicine (ISSM) was founded in 1982 for the purpose of promoting, throughout the international scientific community, research and knowledge in sexual medicine, considered as the subspeciality area of medicine that embraces the study, diagnosis and treatment of the sexual health concerns of men and women. The society has over 2700 members worldwide, with five regional societies that are affiliated with ISSM: the Africa Gulf Society for Sexual Medicine, Asia Pacific Society for Sexual Medicine, European Society for Sexual Medicine, Latin American Society for Sexual Medicine, and Sexual Medicine Society of North America. For more information please visit For more information please visit