Study researchers stated that findings of the study contradicted the previous studies that questioned the efficacy of the hormone treatment.
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“Patients who failed to achieve the therapeutic range after testosterone replacement therapy did not see a reduction in (heart attack) or stroke and had significantly less benefit on mortality”, Barua noted. Researchers note that this is the first study to show that testosterone replacement therapy is only beneficial if testosterone levels can be brought up to the patient’s normal testosterone levels. Furthermore, the US Food and Drug Administration has even asked testosterone products to update their labels to include a possible heart attack risk warning.
These people received the treatment documented covering a period of 15 years – between 1999 to 2014.
Dr. Elizabeth Kavaler, a urology specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City who was not involved in the research, said that testosterone supplements may have a benefit for men whose testosterone level is lower than that of the men in the study – between 150 and 300 nanograms per deciliter.
Typical Testosterone levels among more seasoned men have been connected to better cardiovascular wellbeing in a long haul study directed on veterans.
Millions of men, mostly over the age of 50, are now using testosterone therapy to treat a broad array of symptoms – erectile dysfunction, weight gain, listlessness – thought to be caused by low testosterone levels, which the pharmaceutical industry in copious advertising calls “Low-T”.
All three groups of men were followed-up for few years.
Testosterone therapy has become big business in the United States, as baby boomers seek ways to counter the effects of aging, study said.
Although the researchers said that it was still not confirmed why the normal testosterone levels benefitted the participant’s heart health conditions.
The study’s authors posit that “increasing testosterone levels above the lower limit of the normal range in healthy men does not further improve sexual function”.
Little difference emerged between Groups 2 and 3, except for a slight benefit in survival for those who were treated. The first group was composed of subjects who reached normal testosterone levels as a result of the testosterone replacement therapy. “The mechanisms for these effects remain speculative”, they wrote.
Testosterone levels naturally decline in men, typically falling by around 1% each year after men enter their 30s.
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The researchers suggested that the result could have been affected by different biological factors such us body fat, insulin level sensitivity and other biological processes.
