Women with Hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) have all measures of testosterone activity comparable to controls but lower levels of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). Although DHEA is a precursor of testosterone it has other actions including involvement in the stress system. It is also linked to mood. This study focuses on measures of childhood stress, current mood and salivary stress hormones, in women with and without HSDD. We hypothesize that low levels of DHEA reflect dysfunction of the neuroendocrine stress response system involving the brain, pituitary and adrenal glands where DHEA is produced.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
324
British Columbia Centre for Sexual Medicine
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
DHEA levels
DHEA levels derived from saliva samples.
Time frame: Data is collected at 4 time points on 3 separate days
Cortisol levels
Cortisol levels derived from saliva samples.
Time frame: Data is collected at 4 time points on 3 separate days
Depression
Depression will be measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck \& Beamesderfer, 1974)
Time frame: data is collected at single time point
Perceived stress
Perceived stress will be measured with the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale (Roberti, Harrington \& Storch 2006)
Time frame: data is collected at a single time point
Sexual function
Self-report sexual function will be measured with the Sexual Interest and Desire Inventory (Clayton et al. 2006))
Time frame: data is collected at a single time point
Relationship satisfaction
Relationship satisfaction will be measured with the Relationship Assessment Scale (Hendrick, 1988) and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (Spanier, 1976)
Time frame: data is collected at a single time point
History of childhood trauma
History of childhood trauma will be determined with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (Bernstein \& Fink, 1995)
Time frame: dat is collected at a single timepoint
History of childhood sexual abuse
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History of Childhood Sexual Abuse will be determined with the Childhood Sexual Abuse Measure (Finkelhor, 1979)
Time frame: data is collected at a single time point
PTSD symptoms
Presence and severity of post traumatic stress disorder symptoms will be determined through the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (Blake et al. 1998)
Time frame: data is collected at a single time point