A new study shows that regular treatments for low testosterone levels in men can reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke and even death. The study conducted at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, headed by cardiologist Dr. Rajat Barua includes 83,000 male veterans who underwent various treatments to restore the level of testosterone to normal by utilizing injections, patches and gels.
The study analyzed the data collected from the large number of men and compared those who did not undergo such procedure. All of the subjects were 50-years-old and received treatment from 1999 to 2014. The VA researcher divided the patients into three groups during the study.
The first group were the subjects who underwent treatment until the level of testosterone reached normal; the second were those who received treatment but did not achieve the normal level; while the third group included patients with low testosterone but did not seek any treatment. The three groups were then matched according to their results to ensure that the comparison were equal and fair.
The participants who received treatment showed a 56% decrease of death risk. They were also found to be 36% less prone to experience stroke and 24% less susceptible to suffer from heart attack.
The research team considered different factors that could influence the overall risk and the health condition of the patients, which include their age, body mass index, chronic illnesses, LDL cholesterol level, beta blockers, their statins and aspirin.
Group 1 showed an incredible improvement while Group 2 displayed a slight improvement compared to participants in Group 3 who did not seek any treatment.
The authors of the study stated that patients who received adequate amount of dose to normalize their testosterone levels experienced additional benefits.
"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 and his team stated that they are yet to discover the reason behind the health benefits of testosterone treatment. The study was published in the European Heart Journal.
