Testosterone gel monotherapy improves sexual function of hypogonadal men mainly through restoring erection: evaluation by IIEF score

Abstract

Objectives: To use the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) to evaluate the improvement of erectile function and other sexual functions after testosterone monotherapy. Testosterone replacement therapy alone was reported to be effective for the improvement in sexual function in hypogonadal males. However, it is still unclear that which kind of the sexual function is most beneficial and to what extent the sexual function could be improved.

Methods: A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study was conducted with a treatment group (n = 20) and control group (n = 20). Using a critical review of the different sexual functional domain scores of the IIEF-15 and the scores of the IIEF-5, we evaluated the sexual function of men in hypogonadal status before and after 3 months of testosterone gel treatment. Effect size was used to compare the drug effects for each sexual functional domain, and the results were confirmed by multivariate analysis.

Results: A total of 30 men remained at the end of the study. After 3 months of testosterone gel therapy for the hypogonadal men, the most beneficial effect on sexual function was erectile function, with sexual desire and orgasmic satisfaction insignificantly affected.

Conclusions: The results of our study have shown that transdermal testosterone gel treatment for hypogonadal patients can improve their sexual dysfunction mainly through restoring erectile function.