![Mixed Results from Testosterone Treatment]()
For older men with low testosterone levels, supplementary testosterone can have both positive and negative health effects. The findings, published on February 21 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and JAMA Internal Medicine, come from clinical trials carried out at Einstein and 11 other centers around the country. The Einstein senior principal investigator was Jill P. Crandall, M.D., professor of clinical medicine and attending physician, endocrinology at Montefiore. Researchers at the Perlman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania oversaw the trials, which involved 788 men with low testosterone, age 65 and over, who were randomized into two groups: one used a testosterone gel daily for one year and the other used a daily placebo gel. The four papers published report on four different health effects from testosterone treatment:
Bone: improved bone density and estimated bone strength. (JAMA Internal Medicine)
Anemia: improved red blood cell count in men with some types of anemia. (JAMA Internal Medicine)
Cognition: did not improve memory or any other measure of cognition. (JAMA)
Cardiovascular: more coronary artery plaque buildup in testosterone-treated men (as assessed by CT angiography), although the number of major adverse cardiovascular events (such as heart attacks or strokes) was similar in both groups. (JAMA)
Other results from this trial, published in February 2016 in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that testosterone treatment resulted in modest improvements in sexual function, walking ability and mood.
Posted on: Friday, March 03, 2017