Monday, June 24, 2013

Testosterone & Women's Brain Function

It's been said that hormonal young men w/high levels of testosterone are constantly thinking about sex.  Certainly, as we age, our libido decreases.  Whether this is a result of a natural decline in testosterone or of cognitive maturity is open to debate.  It's also been reported that hypogonadal men are more depressed & perhaps not as sharp cognitively speaking.  Some studies even show a benefit to testosterone replacement in such men w/low T.

But what about women?  Well, my disclaimer is that the following info has not been published in a peer reviewed journal but rather was presented at last week's meeting of endocrinologists.  The authors randomized 92 healthy postmenopausal women avg 60yo who had both normal cognitive function and as well, had not taken any systemic hormone therapy, to 0.22g of testosterone as a transdermal gel or to a placebo for 26wks.  

The authors noted that while these postmenopausal women were cognitively intact, those randomized to T still scored statistically significantly better than those who received placebo.  The improvement was coincident to an increase in testosterone level from low normal to mid-normal range.  Luckily, there were no negative outcomes in this small short study.  If you can't wait, ask your doc about this way off-label use of T.  But just to be on the safe side, wait if you can afford to do so.



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