ReviewSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2011
Circulating androgens in women: exercise-induced changes.
Review in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 97 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exercise, or exercise and diet for the management of polycystic ovary syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Effects of cinnamon supplementation combined with exercise training on anthropometric indices and reproductive hormones in overweight and obese women.Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2026Trial
- The effects of three types of exercise training on steroid hormones in physically inactive middle-aged adults: a randomized controlled trial.European journal of applied physiology · 2021Trial
- Phytoestrogens enhance antioxidant enzymes after swimming exercise and modulate sex hormone plasma levels in female swimmers.European journal of applied physiology · 2011Trial
- Review
- Associations between androgen levels and endurance training-induced changes in body composition and physical performance in premenopausal females.Physiological reports · 2026Article
- Tracking androgens in female elite athletes: menstrual cycle and hormonal contraceptive effects.BMC women's health · 2026Observational
- Changes in androgen profile over the menstrual cycle and hormonal contraceptive phases in physically active females.BMC women's health · 2026Article
- Non-Genitally Stimulated Orgasms Increase Plasma Prolactin in a Menopausal Woman.International journal of sexual health : official journal of the World Association for Sexual Health · 2026Article
- Intraindividual Comparison of the Anabolic Steroid Hormone Profile Between Hormonal Contraceptive Use and the Phases of a Natural Menstrual Cycle in a Recreational Athlete: A Single-Case Observational Study.Case reports in endocrinology · 2026Article
- Variation of the steroid profile in relation to training in women and its importance for anti-doping testing.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Article
- Beyond Menstrual Dysfunction: Does Altered Endocrine Function Caused by Problematic Low Energy Availability Impair Health and Sports Performance in Female Athletes?Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2024Review
- Article
- Article
- Review
- Review
- Serum concentrations of oxytocin, DHEA and follistatin are associated with osteoporosis or sarcopenia in community-dwelling postmenopausal women.BMC geriatrics · 2021Article
- Relationship among Nutritional Intake, Anxiety, and Menstrual Irregularity in Elite Rowers.Nutrients · 2021Article
- Urinary Steroid Profile in Elite Female Athletes in Relation to Serum Androgens and in Comparison With Untrained Controls.Frontiers in physiology · 2021Article
- Growth Hormone(s), Testosterone, Insulin-Like Growth Factors, and Cortisol: Roles and Integration for Cellular Development and Growth With Exercise.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Physical exercise is known to strongly stimulate the endocrine system in both sexes. Among these hormones, androgens (e.g. testosterone, androstenedione, dehydroepiandrosterone) play key roles in the reproductive system, muscle growth and the prevention of bone loss. In female athletes, excessive physical exercise may lead to disorders, including delay in the onset of puberty, amenorrhoea and premature osteoporosis. The free and total fractions of circulating androgens vary in response to acute and chronic exercise/training (depending on the type), but the physiological role of these changes is not completely understood. Although it is commonly accepted that only the free fraction of steroids has a biological action, this hypothesis has recently been challenged. Indeed, a change in the total fraction of androgen concentration may have a significant impact on cells (inducing genomic or non-genomic signalling). The purpose of this review, therefore, is to visit the exercise-induced changes in androgen concentrations and emphasize their potential effects on female physiology. Despite some discrepancies in the published studies (generally due to differences in the types and intensities of the exercises studied, in the hormonal status of the group of women investigated and in the methods for androgen determination), exercise is globally able to induce an increase in circulating androgens. This can be observed after both resistance and endurance acute exercises. For chronic exercise/training, the picture is definitely less clear and there are even circumstances where exercise leads to a decrease of circulating androgens. We suggest that those changes have significant impact on female physiology and physical performance.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.