Testosterone Supplements May Increase Risk Of Heart Attack
ByOlder Men who take testosterone supplements are more likely to suffer heart attacks than those who do not take the hormone supplement, according to a recent study The Los Angeles Times reported.
Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles found that men more than 65 years old, as well as younger men with a history of heart disease, were at least twice as likely to have non-fatal heart attacks within 90 days of taking testosterone supplements than men of the same age and health status who did not get the hormone supplement, a study has found, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Testosterone therapy - widely advertised as a way to help men improve a low sex drive - is typically given in gel, patch or injection form. The treatments are approved by the Food and Drug Administration only for conditions linked with low testosterone levels.
"Our findings are consistent with a recent meta-analysis of placebo-controlled randomized trials of testosterone therapy lasting 12 or more weeks among mainly older men, which reported that testosterone therapy increased the risk of adverse cardiovascular-related events as well as serious adverse cardiovascular-related events," researchers said in the study.
For the study, researchers at UCLA examined a medical-records database of more than 55,000 men who received prescriptions for testosterone from 2006 to 2010, and looked at the rate of heart attacks within 90 days of starting the testosterone treatment. They found that in men 65 and older, the risk more than doubled. In men younger than 65, with a history of heart disease, the risk almost tripled.
Researchers said larger clinical trials should be conducted to "which men might incur risks from testosterone supplementation that outweighed its benefits," The Los Angeles Times reported.