Researchers have suggested that men who have undergone testosterone replacement therapy are at a lower risk of suffering from cardiovascular diseases including heart attacks.
According to a research published recently in European Heart Journal, men who have undergone testosterone replacement therapy and have achieved normalised levels of the hormone may also benefit from a longer lifespan.
Researchers at Kansas City VA Medical Centre in Kansas City, USA, examined the effect of TRT on cardiovascular outcomes by comparing incidences of heart attack, stroke, and all-cause mortality among different sub-populations of treated and untreated patients.
Data from 83,010 male veterans, all without history of myocardial infarction (MI) or stroke, who were treated between December 1999 and May 2014 was used to establish that only 63 per cent of patients achieved normal testosterone levels after TRT More importantly, the group who had normalized testosterone levels after TRT had significantly fewer deaths and cardiovascular events than those who did not.
Dr Rajat S. Barua, the corresponding author of the paper and a cardiologist, said: “With such widespread and ever increasing use of TRT, there has been growing concern regarding its effect on mortality, as well as conflicting results. Our aim was to address the knowledge gap.”
Dr Barua went on to say: “In this study of men, without previous history MI or stroke, with low testosterone levels, normalization of testosterone levels using TRT is associated with lower mortality, fewer MIs, and strokes. This is the first study to demonstrate that significant benefit is observed only if the dose is adequate to normalize the testosterone levels.”
The paper stresses that more research, especially randomized controlled trials with long-term follow-up, would be needed to reach a definite conclusion on the risk of TRT on cardiovascular outcomes. Dr Barua added “Until then, there is a need for guideline-directed TRT with continuous active surveillance to maximize the benefits of TRT and to mitigate potential risks.”
