Leo Sher, M.D.

A scholarly article, “Association of testosterone treatment with alleviation of depressive symptoms in men: A systematic review and meta-analysis” has been published in JAMA Psychiatry online ahead of print (1). The authors examined the association of testosterone treatment with alleviation of depressive symptoms in men. The authors also examined effects of testosterone status, depression status, age, treatment duration, and dosage. This work is the most comprehensive and complete summary of testosterone treatment effects on depressive symptoms in men to date.

Studies on testosterone treatment of depression published in peer-reviewed journals included in the PubMed/Medline, Embase, Scopus, PsychINFO, and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register databases were assessed. The applied key terms were testosterone AND mood together with the corresponding modifiers administration and dosage, adverse effects, deficiency, standards, therapeutic use, therapy, treatment, and supplementation in the title, abstract, or keywords. Quality assessment and data extraction from the 27 randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials comprising 1890 men were performed.

The authors found that testosterone treatment was associated with a significant reduction in depressive symptoms in men in comparison to placebo. There was no significant difference between acceptability of testosterone treatment and placebo. Meta-regression models suggested significant interactions for testosterone treatment with dosage and symptom variability at baseline.

The authors suggest that the available evidence supports the clinical utility of testosterone treatment for depressive symptoms in men, but more methodologically rigorous trials are needed to unequivocally determine efficacy, ideal dosage regimens, and other moderators.

Reference

1. Walther A, Breidenstein J, Miller R. Association of testosterone treatment with alleviation of depressive symptoms in men: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry. 2018 Nov 14. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.2734. [Epub ahead of print]

Dr. Andreas Walther, the first authors of a research work, “Association of testosterone treatment with alleviation of depressive symptoms in men: A systematic review and meta-analysis” is a Member of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) Task Force on Men’s Mental Health. The WFSBP Task Force on Men’s Mental Health was founded in 2013. Currently, the WFSBP Task Force on Men’s Mental Health consists of scholars from many countries in North and South America, Europe, and Asia: 

Officers:

Founding Chair: Leo Sher (USA)

Co-Chairs: Timothy R. Rice (USA)

                  Zoltan Rihmer (Hungary)

Members:

Mikkel Arendt (Denmark)

M. Dolores Braquehais (Spain)

Javier Didia-Attas (Argentina)

Trine Flensborg-Madsen (Denmark)

Masahito Fushimi (Japan)

Julia Golier (USA)

Xenia Gonda (Hungary)

Jussi Jokinen (Sweden)

Styliani Kaliora (Greece)

Shigenobu Kanba (Japan)

Jose de Leon (USA)

Shih-Ku Lin (Taiwan)

J. John Mann (USA)

Mushtaq Margoob (India)

Joav Merrick (Israel)

Narseta Mickuviene (Lithuania)

Anne-Maria Möller-Leimkühler (Germany)

Alexander Neumeister (USA)

Maria A. Oquendo (USA)

Jorge Ospina-Duque (Colombia)

M. Dolores Picouto (Spain)

Carlos Roncero (Spain)

Wolfgang Rutz (Sweden)

Serge Sevy (USA)

Lesha Shah (USA)

Rishi Sood (USA)

Robert G. Stern (USA)

Nestor Szerman (Spain)

Pilar Trelles (USA)

Andreas Walther (Germany)