No credible evidence to support cardiac risk of testosterone therapy

Recent articles in the scientific literature and mass media that question the use of testosterone (T) therapy to treat T deficiency, or "low T," and assert the cardiovascular risks of T therapy, are flawed, according to a provocative Guest Editorial in Journal of Men's Health.

In "Testosterone Therapy and Cardiovascular Risk: A Cautionary Tale" Martin Miner, MD, The Warren Alpert School of Medicine, Brown University (Providence, RI), Joel Heidelbaugh, MD, University of Michigan Medical School (Ann Arbor), and Abraham Morgentaler, MD, Harvard Medical School (Boston, MA), state, "We object to comments that question the reality of T deficiency, regardless of whether it is called hypogonadism or, as in advertisements, 'low T.'"

More data from larger, longer term studies are needed to assess potential effects of testosterone therapy on cardiovascular events in men. Based on the current evidence, the authors state, "we can find no foundation for suggesting new restrictions on T therapy in men with cardiac disease."