HT treatment with estrogens alone or in combination with progestogens was associated with a small to moderate improvement in sexual function , particularly in pain , when used in women with menopausal symptoms or in early postmenopause ( within five years of amenorrhoea ) , but not in unselected postmenopausal women .
The current evidence does not suggest an important effect of tibolone or of SERMs alone or combined with estrogens on sexual function .
BACKGROUND The perimenopausal and postmenopausal periods are associated with many symptoms , including sexual complaints .
OBJECTIVES To assess the effect of hormone therapy ( HT ) on  sexual function in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women .
Gender, sex-steroid, and secretagogue-selective recovery from growth hormone-induced feedback in older women and men.
CONTEXT GH negatively regulates its own secretion . How gender , sex steroids , and secretagogues modulate GH autofeedback is not known . HYPOTHESIS/ OBJECTIVE Supplementation with sex steroids and /or a peptidyl secretagogue will enhance the escape of GH from autoinhibition , thus framing a mechanism for amplifying pulsatile GH secretion . SUBJECTS AND SETTING Ten healthy postmenopausal women and 10 comparably aged men participated at the Clinical -Translational Science Unit . DESIGN / INTERVENTIONS R and omly ordered , double-blind , prospect i ve crossover treatment with placebo vs. testosterone ( men ) or placebo vs. estradiol ( women ) . Autofeedback was imposed by an iv pulse of GH .  Recovery of feedback inhibition was quantified during constant infusion of saline , GHRH , or GH-releasing peptide-2 ( three peptide categories ) . OUTCOMES / RESULTS During negative feedback , total ( integrated ) GH recovery depended upon gender ( P = 0.017 ) , sex hormone ( P < 0.001 ) , and peptide category ( P < 0.001 ) . Mechanistic analysis revealed that feedback-suppressed nadir GH concentrations were determined by sex-steroid treatment ( P = 0.018 ) but not by gender ( P = 0.444 ) . Peak GH escape was controlled by both treatment ( P = 0.004 ) and gender ( P = 0.003 ) . Nadir GH and peak GH during feedback were enhanced by GHRH or GHRP-2 ( P < 0.001 for both ) . Gender × peptide ( P = 0.012 for nadir GH ) , treatment × peptide ( P < 0.001 total and peak GH ) , and gender × treatment ( P = 0.017 nadir GH ) regulated GH recovery interactively . CONCLUSION Gender , sex-steroid supplementation , and secretagogue type confer distinct feedback-rescuing effects , introducing a new level of complexity in the control of pulsatile GH regulation
HT treatment with estrogens alone or in combination with progestogens was associated with a small to moderate improvement in sexual function , particularly in pain , when used in women with menopausal symptoms or in early postmenopause ( within five years of amenorrhoea ) , but not in unselected postmenopausal women .
The current evidence does not suggest an important effect of tibolone or of SERMs alone or combined with estrogens on sexual function .
BACKGROUND The perimenopausal and postmenopausal periods are associated with many symptoms , including sexual complaints .
OBJECTIVES To assess the effect of hormone therapy ( HT ) on  sexual function in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women .