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The Endocrine Society issued a new Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) advising against the use of testosterone therapy in healthy women, according to a press release. 

The guidelines published were updated from 2006 recommendations to address new research concerning testosterone and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) therapy in women. The guidelines also address the advances in testosterone testing and measurement techniques. 

"Although limited research suggests testosterone therapy in menopausal women may be linked to improved sexual function, there are too many unanswered questions to justify prescribing testosterone therapy to otherwise healthy women," said Margaret E. Wierman, MD, of the University of Colorado in Aurora, CO. She also is the Society's Vice President of Clinical Science and chair of the task force that authored the guideline, in the press release.

"When we reviewed past studies, we found many women who had low testosterone levels measured by older or new techniques did not exhibit any signs or symptoms of concern," Wierman added. "As a result, physicians cannot make a diagnosis of androgen deficiency in women."

The society also collaborated with Centers for Disease Control and other groups to establish the Partnership for the Accurate Testing of Hormones (PATH) to address the need for better hormone testing.

The CPG has been also published online in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (JCEM).