• About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Login
    • ObGFirst
  • COVID-19
  • Alerts
  • OB
  • 2T US Atlas
  • The Genome
  • GYN
    • GYN
    • Sexual Health
  • Primary Care
  • Your Practice
  • GrandRounds
  • My Bookshelf
  • Now@ObG
  • Media
About Us Contact Us Login ObGFirst
  • COVID-19
  • Alerts
  • OB
  • 2T US Atlas
  • The Genome
  • GYN
    • GYN
    • Sexual Health
  • Primary Care
  • Your Practice
  • GrandRounds
  • My Bookshelf
  • Now@ObG
  • Media
Alerts
CMECNE

Global Consensus Guidelines on Use of Testosterone in Women

image_pdfFavoriteLoadingFavorite

Learning Objectives and CME/Disclosure Information

This activity is intended for healthcare providers delivering care to women and their families.

After completing this activity, the participant should be better able to:

1. Discuss the role of testosterone treatment for sexual disorders in premenopausal and postmenopausal women
2. Describe the impact of testosterone therapy on mood disorders and general wellbeing in postmenopausal women

Estimated time to complete activity: 0.25 hours

Faculty:

Susan J. Gross, MD, FRCSC, FACOG, FACMG President and CEO, The ObG Project

Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest

Postgraduate Institute for Medicine (PIM) requires faculty, planners, and others in control of educational content to disclose all their financial relationships with ineligible companies. All identified conflicts of interest (COI) are thoroughly vetted and mitigated according to PIM policy. PIM is committed to providing its learners with high quality accredited continuing education activities and related materials that promote improvements or quality in healthcare and not a specific proprietary business interest of an ineligible company.


The PIM planners and others have nothing to disclose. The OBG Project planners and others have nothing to disclose.

Faculty: Susan J. Gross, MD, receives consulting fees from Cradle Genomics, and has financial interest in The ObG Project, Inc.

Planners and Managers: The PIM planners and managers, Trace Hutchison, PharmD, Samantha Mattiucci, PharmD, CHCP, Judi Smelker-Mitchek, MBA, MSN, RN, and Jan Schultz, MSN, RN, CHCP have nothing to disclose.

Method of Participation and Request for Credit

Fees for participating and receiving CME credit for this activity are as posted on The ObG Project website. During the period from 1/15/2020 through 07/15/2022, participants must read the learning objectives and faculty disclosures and study the educational activity.

If you wish to receive acknowledgment for completing this activity, please complete the post-test and evaluation. Upon registering and successfully completing the post-test with a score of 100% and the activity evaluation, your certificate will be made available immediately.

For Pharmacists: Upon successfully completing the post-test with a score of 100% and the activity evaluation form, transcript information will be sent to the NABP CPE Monitor Service within 4 weeks.

Joint Accreditation Statement

In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine and The ObG Project. Postgraduate Institute for Medicine is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

Physician Continuing Medical Education

Postgraduate Institute for Medicine designates this enduring material for a maximum of 0.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Continuing Nursing Education

The maximum number of hours awarded for this Continuing Nursing Education activity is 0.2 contact hours.

Designated for 0.1 contact hours of pharmacotherapy credit for Advance Practice Registered Nurses.

Read Disclaimer & Fine Print

SUMMARY:

A global consensus position statement (2019) on the use of testosterone in women was published and endorsed by NAMS, RCOG, RANZCOG, The International Menopause Society, The Endocrine Society, The European Menopause and Andropause Society, The International Society for Sexual Medicine, The International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health, The Federacion Latinoamericana de Sociedades de Climaterio y Menopausia, The International Society of Endocrinology and The Endocrine Society of Australia.  The statement addresses the available evidence and states

No cut-off blood level can be used for any measured circulating androgen to differentiate women with and without sexual dysfunction

There are insufficient data to make any recommendations regarding the use of testosterone in premenopausal women for treatment of sexual function or any other outcome

The only evidence-based indication for testosterone therapy for women is for the treatment of HSDD, with available data supporting a moderate therapeutic effect, in postmenopausal women

There are insufficient data to support the use of testosterone for the treatment of any other symptom or clinical condition, or for disease prevention

Postmenopausal Women

  • Testosterone treatment of hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) with/or without concurrent estrogen therapy (dosing approximately physiological premenopausal levels) is beneficial for the following (Level 1, Grade A evidence)
    • Increased: Satisfying sexual event (1 per month) | Subdomains of sexual desire, arousal, orgasmic function, pleasure and sexual responsiveness
    • Decreased: Sexual concerns including sexual distress

 Note: Above recommendations and evidence for use of testosterone in HSDD in postmenopausal women are specific for approximate physiologic doses and not supraphysiological that may occur with injectables, pellets or compounded preparations

Benefit of testosterone use has not been found for the following

  • Cognition
    • Insufficient evidence
  • General wellbeing
    • No effect
  • Depression
    • No effect  
  • Bone mineral density (spine and hip at 12 months)
    • No effect
  •  Lean body mass, total body fat or muscle strength
    • No effect (physiologic dosage)

KEY POINTS:

  • HSDD diagnosis and female sexual arousal disorder (FSAD)
    • HSDD and FSAD are 2 distinct conditions with clinical overlap but distinct etiologies
  • Diagnosis of HSDD should be based on clinical assessement and diagnostic criteria (e.g., ISSWSH or ICD 11th edition)
  • Use of systemic DHEA in postmenopausal women with normal adrenal function is not recommended for HSDD
    • Does not significantly improve libido or sexual function
  • Safety

Meta-analyses of the available data show no severe adverse events during physiological testosterone use, with the caveat that women at high cardiometabolic risk were excluded from study populations. The safety of long-term testosterone therapy has not been established.

Learn More – Primary Sources:

Global Consensus Position Statement on the Use of Testosterone Therapy for Women

Toward a More Evidence-Based Nosology and Nomenclature for Female Sexual Dysfunctions—Part III (Definitions can be found in Table 1)

Testosterone Therapy in Women: A Clinical Challenge

Take a post-test and get CME credits

TAKE THE POST TEST

Want to be notified when a new guideline is released?

ObGFirst® – Try It Free!  »

image_pdfFavoriteLoadingFavorite
< Previous
All Alerts Posts
Next >

Related ObG Topics:

Testosterone Therapy for Low Desire – How, When and Where?
Treatment Options for the Patient with Low Sexual Desire
Does Testosterone Treatment Improve Sexual Function in Women?
Talking to Your Patients About OTC DHEA

Sections

  • COVID-19
  • Alerts
  • OB
  • GYN
    • GYN
    • Sexual Health
  • 2T US Atlas
  • The Genome
  • Primary Care
  • Your Practice
  • Grand Rounds
  • My Bookshelf
  • Now@ObG
  • Media

Are you an
ObG Insider?

Get specially curated clinical summaries delivered to your inbox every week for free

  • Site Map/
  • © ObG Project/
  • Terms and Conditions/
  • Privacy/
  • Contact Us/
© ObG Project
SSL Certificate


  • Already an ObGFirst Member?
    Welcome back

    Log In

    Want to sign up?
    Get guideline notifications
    CME Included

    Sign Up

Download Your ObG App
HERE!

Sign In

Lost your password?

Sign Up for ObGFirst and Stay Ahead

  • - Professional guideline notifications
  • - Daily summary of a clinically relevant
    research paper
  • - Includes 1 hour of CME every month

ObGFirst Free Trial

Already a Member of ObGFirst®?

Please log in to ObGFirst to access the 2T US Atlas

Password Trouble?

Not an ObGFirst® Member Yet?

  • - Access 2T US Atlas
  • - Guideline notifications
  • - Daily research paper summaries
  • - And lots more!
ObGFirst Free Trial

Media - Internet

Computer System Requirements

OBG Project CME requires a modern web browser (Internet Explorer 10+, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge). Certain educational activities may require additional software to view multimedia, presentation, or printable versions of their content. These activities will be marked as such and will provide links to the required software. That software may be: Adobe Flash, Apple QuickTime, Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft PowerPoint, Windows Media Player, or Real Networks Real One Player.

Disclosure of Unlabeled Use

This educational activity may contain discussion of published and/or investigational uses of agents that are not indicated by the FDA. The planners of this activity do not recommend the use of any agent outside of the labeled indications.

The opinions expressed in the educational activity are those of the faculty and do not necessarily represent the views of the planners. Please refer to the official prescribing information for each product for discussion of approved indications, contraindications, and warnings.

Disclaimer

Participants have an implied responsibility to use the newly acquired information to enhance patient outcomes and their own professional development. The information
presented in this activity is not meant to serve as a guideline for patient management. Any procedures, medications, or other courses of diagnosis or treatment discussed or suggested in this activity should not be used by clinicians without evaluation of their patient’s conditions and possible contraindications and/or dangers in use, review of any applicable manufacturer’s product information, and comparison with recommendations of other authorities.

Jointly provided by

NOT ENOUGH CME HOURS

It appears you don't have enough CME Hours to take this Post-Test. Feel free to buy additional CME hours or upgrade your current CME subscription plan

Subscribe

JOIN OBGFIRST AND GET CME/CE CREDITS

One of the benefits of an ObGFirst subscription is the ability to earn CME/CE credits from the ObG entries you read. Tap the button to learn more about ObGFirst

Learn More
Leaving ObG Website

You are now leaving the ObG website and on your way to PRIORITY at UCSF, an independent website. Therefore, we are not responsible for the content or availability of this site