Testosterone affects physiological mechanisms that could both increase and decrease the risk of cardiovascular complications. This has led to unclear information about the safety of testosterone replacement, writes Today’s Medicine.
In a new study, which is published in the journal New England Journal of Medicine, American researchers have randomly assigned more than 5,200 men with low testosterone levels and symptoms of testosterone deficiency to either testosterone replacement in gel form or an equivalent placebo. The participants were on average 63 years old and already had cardiovascular disease or were judged to have a high risk of such disease.
After almost three years of follow-up, 7.0 and 7.3 percent of the participants in the testosterone and placebo groups, respectively, had died of heart-related disease or suffered from such ailments.
— It is good that we got the question mark about the cardiovascular safety of this treatment resolved. It is possible that it can increase the tendency to treat testosterone deficiency and concomitant symptoms such as sexual problems or depression, says Stefan Arver, associate professor and senior physician at Karolinska University Hospital, to Dagens Medicin.