Low Testosterone for Women

When people hear the word testosterone, many of them associate the term with men. But testosterone and other hormones known as androgens play an important role in women’s health and reproductive function as well. 

Androgens are a group of hormones that mainly trigger the development of male physical characteristics. The most well-known androgen is testosterone. While women naturally have lower testosterone levels than men, growing research suggests that women maintaining a healthy testosterone balance can support ovarian reserve function and their earliest stages of follicle development.  

Like many hormones, androgens decline with age. This is important to distinguish because a normal testosterone level for a 25-year-old woman is significantly different than that of a 40-year-old.  

Low androgen levels can correspond to reduced fertility in women, but that is applicable to having high androgen levels as well. For example, women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have elevated androgen levels and ovulation may occur irregularly or not at all.  

At the Center for Human Reproduction (CHR), androgen levels have been part of our research into ovarian aging and diminished ovarian reserve for more than two decades. In learning more about ovarian aging, individualized hormone evaluation clarifies why fertility differs from one woman to another.  

If you’d like to learn more about the role of androgens in female fertility, listen to Dr. Norbert Gleicher’s episode on podcast The Egg Factor linked here.