closer look
Can testosterone to treat symptoms of menopause?
Reed Saxon/AP
When you think of hormonal treatments for menopause, which are gaining ground after abruptly falling out of favor following concerning results from the Women’s Health Initiative in 2002, you might not think of testosterone. There actually is more testosterone than estrogen in a premenopausal woman's body, but those levels fall over time, and after menopause a loss of bone density and a depletion of energy can follow.
Some doctors prescribe testosterone to treat these symptoms, but the FDA has not approved a product for this use. And there isn’t a robust body of research to resolve disagreements in the field or to inform these decisions by doctors or patients, STAT’s Annalisa Merelli tells us. “My specialty is midlife women’s health and menopause management, and I’m shocked at how little data and recognition there is in female medicine on the role of this hormone,” Anna Barbieri of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai told her. Read more on the varying views.
pandemic
Offering mental health and mild exercise therapy helped some people with long Covid
Exercise as a therapy for long Covid has been spurned by patients who can face intense fatigue and worsening of other health issues after physical or mental activity. It’s called post-exertional malaise. A new study posted yesterday in BMJ that tested a self-paced approach to exercise, offered in weekly group sessions, might change some minds.
Working with patients, U.K. researchers designed a trial called REGAIN to test a way to provide mental health therapy and exercise guidance to people with long Covid without making their conditions worse. People enrolled in the online program said their health improved more than people who received standard care, which was a one-hour advice session on how to cope with such problems as fatigue, shortness of breath, brain fog, and muscle aches. “We're not under any illusions. REGAIN is not a panacea,” study co-author Gordon McGregor said. “We believe that these findings will assist clinicians with treatment strategies.” I have more here.
Public health
CDC releases new syphilis testing recommendations
With more than 200,000 cases reported in 2022 and a nearly 80% increase in incidence since 2018, syphilis is a growing concern in the U.S. STAT's Annalisa Merelli tells us that for the first time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has published new testing recommendations for syphilis, including the first-ever recommendations regarding laboratory testing.
The guidelines recommend using both tests that detect the presence of Treponema pallidum, the bacterium that causes syphilis, as well as tests that detect the antibodies for it, so as to be able to distinguish between active and past infections. The recommendations also highlight the public health role laboratories play, and the importance of their reporting the results of testing to be able to monitor the epidemic. The CDC also wants to update the terminology of syphilis testing, which dates back to the mid-20th century, and reflects a now-obsolete understanding of the disease. Read more.
