26/07/2024
Statement from the BMS on testosterone prescribing:
In the past few weeks, there has been a significant increase in media attention for more women to be prescribed testosterone. Some of these articles have been written by lay people and it appears that the information provided has been misrepresented to support personal opinion.
Misinformation risks medicalising a normal life stage and render women dependent upon clinicians, some of whom may also be overly promoting treatment with testosterone, which is associated with a high placebo response. Testosterone is not an “essential” hormone for women, as women who have effectively no testosterone production, such as women with no functioning adrenals or ovaries, do not have to have testosterone treatment to be well. Women in whom the ovaries have been removed surgically, still have some testosterone produced by their adrenal glands. So, the frequently used descriptive term, “deficiency state” is incorrect and alarmist.
Whilst some women do benefit from the addition of testosterone, this is not the case for all women and in the interest of patient safety, it is important that women are advised within readily available clinical guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), British Menopause Society (BMS) and the International Menopause Society (IMS). These were developed to support patient safety, not to prevent women from accessing treatment.
The only current evidence-based factual indication for the addition of testosterone to standard HRT, is for persistent low libido in postmenopausal women, after all other contributory factors have been addressed. There is no evidence to support claims that testosterone will help with other symptoms associated with menopause or prevent bone loss or dementia.
Ongoing research may provide evidence for other indications for use of testosterone by women, and we all agree that more research is needed.
