Trial reportBritish journal of sports medicine2020
Effects of moderately increased testosterone concentration on physical performance in young women: a double blind, randomised, placebo controlled study.
Trial report in British journal of sports medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03210558 (Effects of Moderately Increased Testosterone Concentration on Physical Performance and Behaviour in Healthy Women - a Double-blind, Randomized, Placebo-controlled Study), which is not on this map. Cited by 45 papers, 2 of them syntheses 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.
Effects of Moderately Increased Testosterone Concentration on Physical Performance and Behaviour in Healthy Women - a Double-blind, Randomized, Placebo-controlled Study
Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 99 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Role and Regulation of Intramuscular Sex Hormones in Skeletal Muscle: A Systematic Review.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2025Pooled it
- How is the Topic of Intersex Athletes in Elite Sports Positioned in Academic Literature Between January 2000 and July 2022? A Systematic Review.Sports medicine - open · 2022Pooled 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
- Transdermal testosterone gel vs placebo in women with diminished ovarian reserve prior to in vitro fertilization: a randomized, clinical trial.Nature communications · 2026Trial
- Effects of integrated exercise approach on total testosterone levels in eumenorrheic women: a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Molecular Regulators of Muscle Mass and Mitochondrial Remodeling Are Not Influenced by Testosterone Administration in Young Women.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Trial
- Treating age-related loss of muscle mass and function: Where should we be focusing?The Journal of physiology · 2026Review
- Cardiovascular Implications of the Enhanced Games: Performance Enhancing Drugs in Competition and Recreation.Sports medicine - open · 2026Review
- Associations between androgen levels and endurance training-induced changes in body composition and physical performance in premenopausal females.Physiological reports · 2026Article
- Androgen levels of premenopausal females are not observably associated with body composition and physical performance, but may interact with hormonal contraceptive use.European journal of applied physiology · 2026Article
- On the Intimate Relationship of Adiposity to Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2025Review
- Steroid anabolic and catabolic hormones in highly and recreationally trained female athletes across the menstrual cycle.Physiological reports · 2025Article
- Evolution of resistance training in women: History and mechanisms for health and performance.Sports medicine and health science · 2025Review
- Bioavailable testosterone and androgen receptor activation, but not total testosterone, are associated with muscle mass and strength in females.The Journal of physiology · 2025Article
- Testosterone and androgen receptors in females: what is possible with resistance training?The Journal of physiology · 2025Article
- The role of androgens and global and tissue-specific androgen receptor expression on body composition, exercise adaptation, and performance.Biology of sex differences · 2025Review
- Enhanced Acute Muscle Activation in ALS Patients Following Liposomal Curcumin, Resveratrol, and Dutasteride Administration.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Challenging the principle of "No presumption of advantage" with a focus on testosterone and gender eligibility in sports.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Review
- Differences in cardiorespiratory fitness by gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist treatment before and after testosterone in transgender adolescents.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2024Observational
- Sexual dimorphisms in skeletal muscle: current concepts and research horizons.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo investigate the effects of a moderate increase in serum testosterone on physical performance in young, physically active, healthy women.
methodsA double blind, randomised, placebo controlled trial was conducted between May 2017 and June 2018 (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03210558). 48 healthy, physically active women aged 18-35 years were randomised to 10 weeks of treatment with 10 mg of testosterone cream daily or placebo (1:1). All participants completed the study. The primary outcome measure was aerobic performance measured by running time to exhaustion (TTE). Secondary outcomes were anaerobic performance (Wingate test) and muscle strength (squat jump (SJ), counter movement jump (CMJ) and knee extension peak torque). Hormone levels were analysed and body composition assessed by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry.
resultsSerum levels of testosterone increased from 0.9 (0.4) nmol/L to 4.3 (2.8) nmol/L in the testosterone supplemented group. TTE increased significantly by 21.17 s (8.5%) in the testosterone group compared with the placebo group (mean difference 15.5 s; P=0.045). Wingate average power, which increased by 15.2 W in the testosterone group compared with 3.2 W in the placebo group, was not significantly different between the groups (P=0.084). There were no significant changes in CMJ, SJ and knee extension. Mean change from baseline in total lean mass was 923 g for the testosterone group and 135 g for the placebo group (P=0.040). Mean change in lean mass in the lower limbs was 398 g and 91 g, respectively (P=0.041).
conclusionThe study supports a causal effect of testosterone in the increase in aerobic running time as well as lean mass in young, physically active women.
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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.