According to an American study, testosterone increases the risk of a heart attack, in men aged 65, but also in young men with a history of heart disease.
Testosterone puts the hearts of some men at risk. This product is however widely prescribed in the male population in the United States (3% of men). First of all in those who have a deficiency of this hormone and who are entitled to a medical prescription of testosterone. But, also in those who seek to increase their muscle mass, or to boost their sexual or sports capacities. This natural anabolic steroid is however far from harmless for men’s health, as revealed by a new American study on the subject unveiled a few days ago.
People over 65 double their cardiac risk under testosterone
This research, published Wednesday in the journal PLoS ONE, and funded by the American Institutes of Health (NIH), followed 56,000 men divided into two groups. The first was made up of men over 65 who used testosterone but had no history of heart disease. The second group was made up of younger men (under 65), but with a known history of heart disease. The researchers, who prescribed testosterone to these men between 2008 and 2010, compared the rates of heart attacks in this population between two periods. Before receiving their testosterone prescription, and within three months of receiving the prescription.
The results are surprising: Men 65 years and older, taking testosterone, had twice as many heart attacks in the months after starting treatment, compared to when they did not take it. The results were the same in men under 65 with a previous diagnosis of heart disease.
Finally, including parallel data, the team failed to find evidence of an increased heart risk in these younger men, but with no history of heart problems.
A risk due to more intense sexual activity?
Faced with this not very reassuring observation, the American researchers wanted to answer the other question that everyone is asking. Is it testosterone that directly increases heart risk? Or, is it the new behavior of humans, on testosterone, which increases this risk? The hormone in question is indeed well known to stimulate libido in older men. After prescription, they sometimes start a new sexual life, sometimes intense.
To provide an initial answer to this question, the Californian study (University of UCLA) compared this group of men studied previously (under testosterone), to another group, of 170,000 elderly and middle-aged men. , who had been prescribed Viagri and another Cialis, drugs indicated for erectile dysfunction. As a result, these men in the second group did not experience more heart attacks after starting treatment for their erectile dysfunction.
The dangers of testosterone are confirmed
In November 2013, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that androgen substitution with testosterone increased the risk of death, myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke by 29%. However, the 8,709 study participants had low testosterone levels and a high level of comorbidity; 20% with a history of myocardial infarction, 50% were diabetic, and over 80% presented with coronary artery disease. Of this population aged 60 to 64, 1,223 had received treatment with testosterone.
According to these scientists, testosterone increases the production of red blood cells. They can then clump or coagulate, making the blood thicker. “This can be particularly dangerous in men who have narrowed arteries due to aging and disease,” the researchers concluded.
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