title: Testosterone improves verbal learning and memory in postmenopausal women: Results from a pilot study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the effects of testosterone on cognitive performance in healthy postmenopausal women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Open-label pilot study. Nine postmenopausal women on non-oral hormone replacement therapy, aged 47-60 years received transdermal testosterone spray for 26 weeks. A control group of 30 women provided normative data for comparison.
  
  
  METHODS
  Scores from a computerized cognitive test battery performed pre- and post treatment, at 0 and 26 weeks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no differences between treatment/normative groups in any parameter at baseline. At week 26 scores for the International Shopping list task including delayed recall (verbal learning and memory) and the continuous paired associate learning task (visual learning and memory) were significantly higher in the treatment group as compared to the normative group (p<0.05). Significant improvements from baseline were observed for the International Shopping list delayed recall (verbal learning and memory) and Groton Maze recall tasks (visual learning and memory) for the treatment group (both p<0.05), after 26 weeks. There were no significant differences between baseline and week 26 in the normative group. In the regression analysis which modeled the score at week 26, and which included a bootstrapping approach, the beta coefficient for the treatment group was statistically significant when age and baseline score were taken into account for the International Shopping list task including delayed recall (both p<0.02).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Testosterone improved cognitive performance in the domain of verbal learning and memory in a pilot study of healthy postmenopausal women and is worthy of further exploration in a randomized placebo controlled study.
authors.affiliation: Women's Health Research Program, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia. sonia.davison@monash.edu
authors.forename: Sonia L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Davison
authors.forename: Robin J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Bell
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gavrilescu
authors.forename: Karissa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Searle
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Maruff
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gogos
authors.forename: Susan L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Rossell
authors.forename: Jenny
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Adams
authors.forename: Gary F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Egan
authors.forename: Susan R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000728:Androgens / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000187:drug effects / Q000523:psychology; D013739:Testosterone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D000728:Androgens; D013739:Testosterone