Barua studied data from over 83,000 male veterans.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A new study conducted by Veterans Affairs researchers suggests that men who regularly receive treatment for low levels of testosterone are less likely to suffer from stroke, heart attack and even death from any cause compared to those who do not undergo such procedure.
Cardiologist Dr. Rajat Barua and his colleagues at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Kansas City examined data collected from 83,000 male veterans who underwent various treatments, such as through injections, patches and gels, to restore their testosterone levels to normal, reported Tech Times.
The study, published in the European Heart Journal, found that men were 56 percent less likely to die, 24 percent less likely to suffer a heart attack, and 36 percent less likely to have a stroke after undergoing testosterone therapy, according to Medical News Today.
Despite the findings, Barua and his team noted that they have yet to determine the reasons testosterone treatments benefit the heart of patients and their overall survivability. They said that the mechanisms involved in these effects continue to be speculative.
The researchers said that some of the possible explanations include the amount of fat in the body, sensitivity to insulin, inflammation, blood platelets, lipids and other potential biological pathways.
“It is the first study to demonstrate that significant benefit is observed only if the dose is adequate to normalize the total testosterone levels,” the authors wrote. “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.”