WEDNESDAY, June 12, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) skin patches could help rev up desire in older women whose sex drive needs a tune-up.
The daily stresses of life, menopause and declining hormone levels can leave many women with reduced sexual desire, say University of Southern California researchers.
But in what they call a small, preliminary study of 23 post-menopausal women on HRT, they found that an estrogen/progestin skin patch had positive effects on mood and libido, leading to more orgasms.
The researchers say the finding, which was presented yesterday at the World Congress on the Menopause in Berlin, may be a first step in providing a new solution for decreased sex drive in post-menopausal women.
Although millions of postmenopausal women complain of decreased sex drive, there are currently no treatment methods for female sexual dysfunction, the USC researchers say.
Oral HRT, which usually involves a combination of estrogen and a synthetic version of progesterone, is usually the first line of treatment for women suffering menopause effects that include hot flashes and vaginal dryness.
The USC researchers say their study shows how the body responds to different methods of HRT. They say the skin patch has some advantages over oral HRT, including a greater degree of sexual satisfaction.
There are many different brands of oral HRT available to treat women with menopause. But there is only one combination estrogen/progestin patch, called CombiPatch, that has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and that was the patch used in this study.
The USC researchers do say that larger and longer investigations are needed to verify the results.
More information
The National Institute on Aging offers this discussion of the benefits and risks of hormone replacement therapy.
