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| Issue : February/March 2001 | |||
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Pioneering city | ||
| » Hull patches up for sex drive tests: |
Medical research being carried out in Hull could help middle-aged women rediscover the joy of sex.
The Centre for Metabolic Bone Disease on Anlaby Road is one of 22 centres in Europe and Australia where trials are under way to see if a small amount of the male hormone testosterone can boost the female libido when it flags after the menopause.
Twelve women in Hull and the East Riding were selected from a large number of local volunteers who wanted to rekindle the flame of passion with their partners. For six months they are being given patches to wear on their skin by Professor David Purdie, consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist at Hull Royal Infirmary and a leading member of the international research team. Half of them wear patches delivering a low dose of testosterone. The others are given 'dummy' patches to provide a comparison. None of the volunteers know whether or not their patches, changed twice weekly, are the real thing. But the answers they and more than 200 other women in Britain and abroad fill in on detailed questionnaires about their sex lives should tell researchers if testosterone is doing the trick. Results will be known later this year. "We had more volunteers than we could take which makes me wonder if there is a smouldering cauldron of unhappiness out there," said Professor Purdie. "I think there may be. "The decline of libido in women after the menopause is seen as natural but for many women it's a very serious event, especially if their husbands or partners don't understand what's going on. "If we can safely and reliably reactivate the libido, we could improve the quality of life for many women and their partners." On the other hand, couldn't the sudden emergence of a rampant Mrs Robinson-like figure, the man-eater in the classic movie The Graduate put another sort of strain on a relationship? "Partners will have to be warned in advance," agrees Prof. Purdie. "A period of readjustment may be necessary." |
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