Popular ‘low-T’ treatment is safe for men with heart disease, but doctors warn it’s not a rejuvenating serum

A new study suggests that testosterone replacement therapy is safe for “low-T” men who have heart disease or are at high risk for heart disease.

But doctors warn that the popular remedy is not an “antiaging tonic.”

The study, published Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that heart attacks, strokes and other serious heart conditions were as common among people who used testosterone gel as those who used placebos. Turns out not.

This means the gel is safe for men with no cardiovascular problems and low T-values, says Steven Nissen, M.D., a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic and lead author of the study. said. But that doesn’t mean men without low T values, a condition also known as hypogonadism as measured by levels of sex hormones in their blood, should use this treatment, he adds. rice field.

“What we’ve shown here is that testosterone can be safely administered to a very specific group of men,” Nissen said. “But it should not be given to aging men as a widely used anti-aging tonic.”

More than 5,000 men between the ages of 45 and 80 at 316 trial sites across the United States were randomly assigned to receive testosterone gel or placebo, which was applied daily for an average of about 22 months. A “major cardiac event” occurred in 182 patients in the testosterone group and 190 in the placebo group.

The testosterone group had higher rates of less serious problems, such as atrial fibrillation, acute kidney injury, and problems with intravenous blood clots.

This large study will help address a “gap in our understanding” of how testosterone treatment affects cardiovascular disease outcomes in patients with true low T, said the study’s authors. Dr. Alan Bake, a cardiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, said:

But he said he would like to see more research on whether testosterone therapy can actually reduce cardiovascular risk factors in men with low T levels, who are more likely to have conditions like hypertension and diabetes. Stated.

The treatment of low T has been big business for many years, driven primarily by advertising pills, patches, gels and injections. Treatments are offered at online sites and clinics across the country, many of which link low T to common problems such as fatigue and weight gain.

The new study, led by the Cleveland Clinic and funded by a consortium of pharmaceutical companies, was launched in 2015 by the Food and Drug Administration to urge testosterone product makers to look more closely at their risk of heart attack and stroke. It was done in response to what was ordered by Previous FDA investigations had shown that many men were on low-T therapy, even though their testosterone levels were not tested.

Nissen said that while low T is a “very common disease,” older men also feel like they’re 18 again and want “the same sexual performance they had when they were younger.” rice field.

But this treatment “should not be used by bodybuilders,” he added. Do not use athletes. Concerns about testosterone misuse are very high. And I think we have to be very careful. “