2016
The fourth stage
During the 2016 year, the project objectives were related to activities implying dissemination of the obtained results. For this reason, we decided to include within 2016 reporting form (in addition to the list of published papers) a scientific summary report, too, providing thus an overview of the entire project and a brief outlook over the perspectives opened by this project.
In respect to the first objective of the project, namely highlighting the existence of two distinct bio-psycho-sexual profiles (by monitoring finasteride adverse effects and their correlation with the dominant hand and sexual orientation of participants), the data of this study show that finasteride induces adverse reactions predominantly to right-handed men. Regarding sexual orientation, the results show that finasteride induces adverse effects predominantly on right-handed homosexual men, and in a lesser extent to left-handed homosexual men. The second objective of the study (to investigate if the variation of dihydrotestosterone plasmatic level is correlated with the extent of sexual side effects induced by finasteride), we found such a possible correlation only on males who are predominantly right-handed (in such situation, variation of dihydrotestosterone plasmatic level correlates partially with magnitude of finasteride adverse effects). When this element of investigation (hand preference) is excluded, the variation of dihydrotestosterone plasmatic level no longer correlates with the magnitude of adverse reactions induced by finasteride. In support of this, we noticed that at left-handed men the level of dihydrotestosterone decreases as to the right-handed subjects, but sexual side effects are very rare or absent. Regarding the third objective (a possible practical application of the results obtained), the study data correlate with the primary objective of this project, namely that finasteride induces sexual side effects predominantly in right-handed men. In other words, the right handed men should be advised prior to treatment with finasteride, that present a higher risk of developing adverse effects comparable to the other men (predominantly left-handed), a risk that appears to be somewhat higher in subjects declaring that have a homosexual orientation. Beyond these three objectives, we had the opportunity to study other aspects unforeseen by us at the beginning of the study, namely some unusual finasteride adverse effects and the post-finasteride syndrome. This post-finasteride syndrome is a relatively new concept in literature, and refers to residual / persistent finasteride adverse effects which can be encountered in some subjects at three months or more after finasteride discontinuation. We published an article related to adverse effects induced by finasteride at the level of oral cavity, we are awaiting response for a submitted paper regarding a case report of vitiligo occurring after finasteride administration (article under evaluation), and we have also sent an article (currently under evaluation) related to possible therapeutic options of postfinasteride syndrome, an article that opens in our opinion new perspectives for the forthcoming studies that will take place on this topic. The obtained results and information related to this project were disseminated in the form of several published papers, which are listed below (section: Articles related to the study) and that are also posted on the project website (http://www.scholar.ro/finasteride/results). In the same time with presentation of the study results, we published during this project other data/ debates (section: Articles related to the project topic, published by members of the project team during the study), in an attempting to provide a broader interpretation of the study data and trying to outline possible new perspective by interest for the future studies.