Dehydroepiandrosterone and cortisol as markers of HPA axis dysregulation in women with low sexual desire
department or school: Medicine, Faculty of
department or school: Non UBC
department or school: Cellular and Physiological Sciences, Department of
department or school: Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Department of
department or school: Psychiatry, Department of
data provider: DSpace
identifier citation: Basson, R., O’Loughlin, J.I., Weinberg, J., Young, A.H., Bodnar, T., & Brotto, L.A. (2019). Dehydroepiandrosterone and cortisol as markers of HPA axis dysregulation in women with low sexual desire. Psychoneuroendocrinology, advance online publication.
creator: Basson, Rosemary
creator: O’Loughlin, Julia I.
creator: Weinberg, Joanne
creator: Young, Allan H.
creator: Bodnar, Tamara
creator: Brotto, Lori A.
issued: 2020-03-22T07:00:00Z
issued: 2019-03-22
description: Previous research has found lower serum levels of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) or its sulfated form, DHEA-S, in women diagnosed with Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD). Given that DHEA and DHEA-S have multiple direct actions on the brain as well as anti-glucocorticoid properties, it is possible that lower levels of DHEA directly impact women’s sexual functioning. To date, the significance of the lower DHEA levels remains unclear. To our knowledge, there has been no empirical study of stress hormones as markers of HPA dysregulation in women with HSDD. To attend to this gap, the present study utilized several measures of HPA axis function – morning and evening cortisol and DHEA, the cortisol awakening response (CAR), diurnal cortisol slope, and cortisol:DHEA ratio – and examined their relationship with sexual functioning in N = 275 women with (n = 137) and without (n = 138) HSDD. Results demonstrated multiple hormonal markers of HPA dysregulation in women diagnosed with HSDD compared to control participants, specifically, lower AM cortisol and DHEA levels, a flatter diurnal cortisol slope, and a lower CAR. Overall, results of the present study indicate that persistently low sexual desire in women is associated with HPA axis dysregulation, with both cortisol and DHEA alterations potentially detrimental to sexual desire.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/69445
note: 1 Title: Dehydroepiandrosterone and cortisol as markers of HPA axis dysregulation in women with low sexual desire Authors: Rosemary Basson, MD1, Julia I. O’Loughlin, MA2, Joanne Weinberg, PhD3, Allan H. Young, M.B., PhD4, Tamara Bodnar, PhD3 & Lori A. Brotto, PhD5 Affiliations: 1. University of British Columbia Department of Psychiatry 2255 Wesbrook Mall Vancouver, BC, V6T 2A1 2. University of British Columbia Department of Counselling Psychology 2125 Main Mall Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z4 3. University of British Columbia Department of Cellular & Physiological Sciences 2350 Health Sciences Mall Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z3 4. King's College London Centre for Affective Disorders Department of Psychological Medicine PO72, De Crespigny Park Denmark Hill London, SE5 8AF 5. University of British Columbia Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology 2775 Laurel Street, 6th Floor Vancouver, BC Canada V5Z 1M9 Corresponding Author: Lori A. Brotto Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre Vancouver General Hospital 6th floor, 2775 Laurel St. Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9 Canada Email: lori.brotto@vch.ca Phone: 604-875-4111, ext. 68898 Fax: 604-875-4869 Key Words: dehydroepiandrosterone; cortisol; sexual dysfunction; sexual desire; hypoactive sexual desire disorder 2 Funding: This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research [grant number F11-01015]. The research in Dr. Weinberg’s laboratory is supported by NIH/National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism grants R37 AA007789 and RO1 AA022460 Acknowledgements: We wish to thank Yvonne Erskine for assistance with project administration, Melissa Moses and Chanel Wood for assistance in recruitment and data collection, Kelly Smith, Miriam Driscoll and Erin Breckon for assistance with clinical/diagnostic interviews, Wayne Yu for running hormone assays, and John Petkau, Biljana Stojkova and Elena Shchurenkova for assistance with statistical analysis. Declaration of Interest: The authors report no conflicts of intere…
has type: Article
has type: Postprint
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0377793
language: eng
peer review status: Reviewed
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.03.001
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Faculty
scholar level: Postdoctoral
scholar level: Graduate
subject: Dehydroepiandrosterone
subject: Cortisol
subject: Sexual dysfunction
subject: Sexual desire
subject: Hypoactive sexual desire disorder
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/69445