ArticleThe Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism2011
Higher serum free testosterone concentration in older women is associated with greater bone mineral density, lean body mass, and total fat mass: the cardiovascular health study.
Article in The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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
29 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 76 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic Review of Sarcopenia Biomarkers in Hip Fracture Patients as a Potential Tool in Clinical Evaluation.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Pooled it
- Anabolic Androgenic Steroids in Orthopaedic Surgery: Current Concepts and Clinical Applications.Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. Global research & reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Testosterone dose-response relationships with cardiovascular risk markers in androgen-deficient women: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2014Trial
- Sex steroid levels and response to weight loss interventions among postmenopausal women in the diabetes prevention program.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2014Trial
- Role of Sex Hormones in Mediating Adiposity Changes From Weight Loss in People With Type 2 Diabetes: Look AHEAD Sex Hormone Study.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2025Article
- Bioavailable testosterone and androgen receptor activation, but not total testosterone, are associated with muscle mass and strength in females.The Journal of physiology · 2025Article
- Associations Between Female Sex Hormones and Skeletal Muscle Ageing: The Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2025Article
- High SHBG and Low Bioavailable Testosterone are Strongly Causally Associated with Increased Forearm Fracture Risk in Women: An MR Study Leveraging Novel Female-Specific Data.Calcified tissue international · 2024Article
- Sex Steroid Levels in Women With Hypopituitarism: A Case-controlled Observational Study.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2024Observational
- Androgen deficiency in hypopituitary women: its consequences and management.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2024Review
- Interrelationships between sarcopenia, bone turnover markers and low bone mineral density in patients on hemodialysis.Renal failure · 2023Article
- Hormones and Aging: An Endocrine Society Scientific Statement.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2023Article
- Steroid hormone levels and bone mineral density in women over 65 years of age.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Mendelian randomization analyses of associations between breast cancer and bone mineral density.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Association between testosterone levels and bone mineral density in females aged 40-60 years from NHANES 2011-2016.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Longitudinal changes over three years in sex steroid hormone levels in women aged 70 years and over.Clinical endocrinology · 2021Article
- Sarcopenia in women with hip fracture: A comparison of hormonal biomarkers and their relationship to skeletal muscle mass and function.Osteoporosis and sarcopenia · 2020Article
- Estrogens and Androgens in Skeletal Physiology and Pathophysiology.Physiological reviews · 2017Review
- Effects of Antipsychotics on Bone Mineral Density in Patients with Schizophrenia: Gender Differences.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2016Review
- Changes in testosterone related to body composition in late midlife: Findings from the 1946 British birth cohort study.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 6 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
contextThe physiological importance of endogenous testosterone (T) in older women is poorly understood.
objectiveThe aim of the study was to determine the association of higher total and free T levels with bone mineral density (BMD), lean body mass, and fat mass in elderly women.
designTotal and free T were measured using sensitive assays in 232 community-dwelling women aged 67-94 yr who were enrolled in the Cardiovascular Health Study and had dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry scans. Cross-sectional analyses were performed to examine associations between total and free T and BMD and body composition.
resultsIn adjusted models, total T was directly associated with BMD at the lumbar spine (P = 0.04) and hip (P = 0.001), but not body composition outcomes, in all women, and after excluding estrogen users and adjusting for estradiol (P = 0.04 and 0.01, respectively). Free T was positively related to hip BMD, lean body mass, and body fat (all P < 0.05), with more than 10% differences in each outcome between women at the highest and lowest ends of the free T range, with attenuation after excluding estrogen users and adjusting for estradiol.
conclusionsIn the setting of the low estradiol levels found in older women, circulating T levels were associated with bone density. Women with higher free T levels had greater lean body mass, consistent with the anabolic effect of T, and, in contrast to men, greater fat mass. Mechanistic studies are required to determine whether a causal relationship exists between T, bone, and body composition in this population and the degree to which any T effects are estrogen-independent.
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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.