Correct Testosterone Level Helps Reduce Heart Attack Risk

Over the study’s three-year span, men taking testosterone reported no greater sense of well-being, nor better erectile or ejaculatory function, sexual desire or partner intimacy, than did those getting a placebo.

At study’s end, the two groups of men did not differ significantly or meaningfully in terms of rates of hardening of the arteries.

Last month, Medical News Today ran a Spotlight feature on the debate surrounding testosterone therapy, with clinicians in conflict on when such treatment is appropriate and what its risks and benefits are.

The findings were somewhat surprising as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordered that testosterone replacement therapies carry warning labels saying that they increase the risk of having a heart attack or a stroke. A new study of a testosterone gel suggests it doesn’t speed up or slow down hardening of the arteries.

All participants in the three study groups were matched based on propensity to make sure that the comparisons were equal between males with similar profiles of health. Testosterone isn’t prescribed with the goal of improving heart health, but that is a consideration in many cases.

The researchers stated that despite the latest revelations they have uncovered, the apparent benefits derived from testosterone treat to heart attack and stroke is yet to be fully understood.

“Testosterone also did not improve either the sexual function or quality of life in these otherwise healthy men, who had low or low-normal testosterone levels“. The researchers took into account a wide array of factors that might affect cardiovascular and overall risk. And the third group of men did not receive any treatment and their levels also remained low.

Compared to men who were untreated, however, the men whose levels returned to normal were shown to have 56 percent less risk of dying during the follow-up period, were 24 percent less likely to have a heart attack, and 36 percent less likely to have a stroke. The first group consisted of veterans that had reached normal testosterone levels after therapy.

The mechanisms behind testosterone’s benefits for overall survival are not exactly known.

Although men in the testosterone group did report a slight improvement in their satisfaction with intercourse, the effect was small and could have been due to chance, the researchers said. Possible explanations, they say, could involve body fat, insulin sensitivity, lipids, blood platelets, inflammation, or other biological pathways.

Researchers wrote in the study that future studies will need to clarify the effects of testosterone on the cardiovascular system.

Many previous studies have addressed whether or not testosterone therapy was effective or not. Examples of these conditions include failure of the testicles to produce testosterone because of reasons such as genetic problems or chemotherapy….

The study – the largest to-date on TRT and with the longest followup period – involved men who were treated between December 1999 and May 2014 at the Kansas City VA Medical Center.