HORMONES: Incontinence Tied to Low Testosterone in Women.

A possible link between low levels of testosterone in women and urinary incontinence raises the possibility that testosterone replacement therapy might help, results from a new study suggest.

“Testosterone may prevent pelvic floor atrophy, thereby reducing the risk of urinary incontinence,” said investigator Michelle Kim, MD, PhD, from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Levator ani muscles are known to have androgen receptors. In one rodent model, testosterone administered after surgically induced urinary incontinence resulted in levator hypertrophy (Int Urol Nephrol. 2011;43:1003-1008).

Because it is unclear whether the same association exists in humans, Dr Kim and her colleagues were prompted to assess the correlation between testosterone and incontinence.

The team looked at data on 2123 women who took part in the 2012 cycle of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and had serum total testosterone measured at the time.

I predict that we’ll find testosterone in women to be more important than has generally been thought.