ArticlePsychoneuroendocrinology2019
Dehydroepiandrosterone and cortisol as markers of HPA axis dysregulation in women with low sexual desire.
Article in Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
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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.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- Lead exposure, glucocorticoids, and physiological stress across the life course: A systematic review.Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987) · 2024Pooled it
- Impact of mindfulness versus supportive sex education on stress in women with sexual interest/arousal disorder.Journal of behavioral medicine · 2024Trial
- Sexual dysfunction and health condition in Chinese doctor: prevalence and risk factors.Scientific reports · 2020Trial
- The Mediating Role of Sexual Mindfulness on the Relationship Between Black Women's Psychological and Sexual Functioning.Mindfulness · 2025Article
- Sex Differences in Sexual Motivation Among U.S. Residents 57-85 Years of Age.Archives of sexual behavior · 2025Article
- Measuring salivary cortisol in biobehavioral research: A systematic review and methodological considerations.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2025Review
- Association of salivary lactoferrin,Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- What should we be studying? Research priorities according to women and gender-diverse individuals with sexual interest/arousal disorder and their partners.The journal of sexual medicine · 2024Article
- Stress during pubertal development affects female sociosexual behavior in mice.Nature communications · 2024Article
- The associates of anxiety among lung cancer patients: Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) as a potential biomarker.BMC cancer · 2024Article
- Advancing Research and Treatment: An Overview of Clinical Trials in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and Future Perspectives.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Salivary cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone, and chromogranin A levels in patients with gingivitis and periodontitis and a novel biomarker for psychological stress.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2023Article
- Putative Mental, Physical, and Social Mechanisms of Hormonal Influences on Postpartum Sexuality.Current sexual health reports · 2021Article
- Inflammation Predicts Sexual Arousability in Healthy Women.Comprehensive psychoneuroendocrinology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Previous research has found lower serum levels of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) or its sulfated form, DHEA-S, in women diagnosed with Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD). Given that DHEA and DHEA-S have multiple direct actions on the brain as well as anti-glucocorticoid properties, it is possible that lower levels of DHEA directly impact women's sexual functioning. To date, the significance of the lower DHEA levels remains unclear. To our knowledge, there has been no empirical study of stress hormones as markers of HPA dysregulation in women with HSDD. To attend to this gap, the present study utilized several measures of HPA axis function - morning and evening cortisol and DHEA, the cortisol awakening response (CAR), diurnal cortisol slope, and cortisol:DHEA ratio - and examined their relationship with sexual functioning in N = 275 women with (n = 137) and without (n = 138) HSDD. Results demonstrated multiple hormonal markers of HPA dysregulation in women diagnosed with HSDD compared to control participants, specifically, lower AM cortisol and AM DHEA levels, a flatter diurnal cortisol slope, and a lower CAR. Overall, results of the present study indicate that persistently low sexual desire in women is associated with HPA axis dysregulation, with both cortisol and DHEA alterations potentially detrimental to sexual desire.
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Registered trials
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