No Link: Testosterone Therapy & Heart Attack Risk

Previous research on the effects of testosterone therapy on cardiovascular outcomes has yielded inconsistent results.  Jacques Baillargeon, from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (Texas, USA), and colleagues examined enrollment and claims Medicare data 25,420 Medicare beneficiaries 66 years or older treated with testosterone for up to eight years.. Men of the same age, race, Medicaid eligibility, and health status who did not receive testosterone therapy were used as a control group for comparison.   The analyses showed that testosterone therapy did not associate with an increased risk of heart attack. Further, testosterone users with a higher probability of cardiovascular problems had a lower rate of heart attacks in comparison to equivalent patients who did not receive testosterone therapy.  Observing that: “Older men who were treated with intramuscular testosterone did not appear to have an increased risk of [heart attack],” the study authors submit that: “For men with high [heart attack] risk, testosterone use was modestly protective.”