Research
Hormonal
Diagnosing androgen deficiency in women is currently not recommended because there is no well-defined clinical syndrome or normative data on testosterone levels across the lifespan.
Do not seek a diagnosis of 'low T' or 'androgen deficiency' based on lab tests alone. The medical community currently lacks the normative data and clinical definitions to diagnose this condition in women. Focus on overall health and symptom management rather than chasing a specific hormone number.
WeakRefutesVERY_LOW confidence
We recommend against making a diagnosis of androgen deficiency in women at this time because there is neither a well-defined clinical syndrome nor normative data on testosterone or free testosterone levels in women across their lifespans that can be used to define the disorder (1(QEEE).
Why this rating
The guideline assigns QEEE (very-low-quality evidence) to the recommendation.
Source
Androgen Therapy in Women: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline
Margaret E. Wierman et al. · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · 2006
DOI 10.1210/jc.2006-1121
clinical_guidelineCited 301×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Current assays for measuring testosterone and free testosterone in women are inadequate due to lack of sensitivity and specificity, necessitating the development of more accurate methods.Limited
- Generalized testosterone therapy is not recommended for women due to inadequate indications and a lack of long-term safety data, despite evidence of short-term efficacy in specific subgroups like surgically menopausal women.Weak
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