Some studies suggest that testosterone therapy has additional effects , which include increased bone mineral density and decreased serum high-density lipoprotein ( HDL ) cholesterol .
The clinical sequelae of oestrogen deficiency during menopause are undoubted .
However , the pathophysiological role of testosterone during the menopause is less clear .
Several r and omized , placebo-controlled clinical trials suggest that testosterone therapy improves sexual function in postmenopausal women .
The Effects of Plasma Estradiol Levels on Increases in Vertebral and Femoral Bone Density Following Therapy With Estradiol and Estradiol With Testosterone Implants
Percutaneous estradiol ( E2 ) implants effectively preserve bone density in postmenopausal women . However , these implants are often given with testosterone , which may itself have an anabolic effect on bone . To determine whether testosterone confers any additional bone-sparing effect , we studied 50 postmenopausal women r and omly allocated to receive E2  ( 75 mg ) alone or with testosterone ( 100 mg ) every 6 months for 1 year . Women with an intact uterus received cyclic norethindrone ( 5 mg ) for 10 days of each calendar month . Twenty-five untreated women were recruited to act as a reference group . Bone density was measured at the lumbar spine and proximal femur by dual x-ray densitometry . By 1 year , bone density at the lumbar spine had fallen by 1.8 % in the reference group . In the women treated with E2 alone , it increased significantly by 7.8 % ( P < .0001 ) and in those receiving E2 with testosterone , it increased by 6.3 % ( P < .0001 ) . At the femoral neck , bone density decreased by 3 % in the controls and increased by approximately 4 % in both treated groups ( P < .0001 ) . The increase in bone density at these sites was unrelated to the woman 's chronological age , menopausal age , or initial bone density . However , it correlated significantly with the serum E2 levels attained after 1 year of therapy . In no treated patients did bone density decrease significantly . These data show that testosterone confers no additional bone-sparing effect in postmenopausal women
Some studies suggest that testosterone therapy has additional effects , which include increased bone mineral density and decreased serum high-density lipoprotein ( HDL ) cholesterol .
The clinical sequelae of oestrogen deficiency during menopause are undoubted .
However , the pathophysiological role of testosterone during the menopause is less clear .
Several r and omized , placebo-controlled clinical trials suggest that testosterone therapy improves sexual function in postmenopausal women .