Testosterone Levels and Sexual Function Disorders in Depressive Female Patients: Effects of Antidepressant Treatment

Abstract

Introduction Women suffer from depression more frequently than men, which indicates that sex hormones might be involved in the etiology of this disease. Aims The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between testosterone and depression pathophysiology in depressive women along with sexual function. We also investigated whether antidepressant treatment causes any change in levels of this hormone or in sexual function. Methods Premenopausal female patients aged 25–46 years (n = 52) with diagnosed major depression were included in this study as the patient group, and 25- to 46-year-old premenopausal women without depression (n = 30) were included as the control group. Main Outcome Measures Serum testosterone and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) levels were measured twice, before and after the antidepressant treatment. Bioavailable testosterone (cBT) levels were calculated using the assay results for total testosterone (TT), SHBG, and albumin according to the formulas of Vermeulen et al. Depression severity was measured using the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, and sexual function was evaluated with the Arizona Sexual Experience Scale. Results The mean TT and cBT levels significantly increased in the patient group after the antidepressant treatment (P < 0.001). Pre-treatment TT and cBT levels were significantly lower in the patient group than in the control group (P < 0.001). Similar results were obtained for post-treatment serum TT and cBT levels in the patient and control groups (P > 0.05). There were no significant differences among the groups in terms of SHBG level. Conclusion The low testosterone levels in depressed women compared with women in the control group and the elevated levels post-pharmacotherapy suggest that testosterone may be involved in depression.

On the effects of testosterone on brain behavioral functions

“…Low testosterone and depressive symptoms are both associated with the risk of falls, which are important for life expectancy in the elderly (Kurita et al, 2014 ). Similarly, in women testosterone concentrations are lower in depressive patients when compared to healthy controls (Kumsar et al, 2014 ). However, standard antidepressant treatment leads to normalization of testosterone.…”

Not Only Estradiol but Also Testosterone Levels Depend on Menstrual Cycle Phases

“…Different authors have opposite opinions about the testosterone influence on depression development. According to some of them, testosterone prevents the development of dåpression, since the low testosterone levels are observed in depressed women compared with women in the cîntrol group and its elevated levels are found after pharmacotherapy [4]. On the other hànd, it has been show that testosterone does not influence the depression development [21] or even worsens symptoms of depression [22].…”

“…However, little attention has been paid to functions of endogenous androgens in females [3]. Conclusions about roles of endogenous androgens are usually based on clinical investigations [1,[4][5][6] or on data obtained on postmenopausal women [3,[7][8][9]. Information on healthy young women is scarce [10][11][12].…”

Intramuscular Testosterone Supplementation Ameliorates Depression in Hypogonadal Men: A Retrospective Study in an Outpatient Department

“…However, after thorough clinical examination and review of all case files, none of the patients had a personality disorder diagnosis. The possibility of SSRI-induced hypogonadism or more generally speaking the possibility of antidepressants leading to lower T levels are still subjects for debate [28,29,35]. Therefore, more research has to be conducted in this area before being able to judge whether this is a potentially confounding factor in our study.…”