Yale study: Testosterone therapy in older men shows mixed results

NEW HAVEN >> The results of four yearlong trials studying the effects of testosterone therapy on older men with low levels of the hormone are mixed, according to a release from Yale University.

The therapy improves bone density and strength and reduces anemia, but may increase plaque in coronary arteries and appears to have no effect on cognitive function, the trials found. In 2016, the T Trials, as they are known, found that testosterone had a positive effect on sexual function.

“Looking globally at testosterone therapy, the strongest evidence is for sexual function,” said Dr. Thomas Gill, a lead author, who is a professor in the Yale School of Medicine.

The studies, the largest to examine the effects of testosterone therapy, were conducted at Yale and at 12 other sites nationwide, involving 790 men older than age 65.

After one year, men given the hormone showed significantly higher bone mineral density, which is a marker of fracture risk, and bone strength, according to the release. The improvement was greater in the spine than in the hip.

In the anemia trial, 54 percent of men with unexplained anemia and 52 percent with anemia from known causes had significant increases in red blood cell levels, compared with 15 percent and 12 percent, respectively, of the men given a placebo.

The amount of non-calcified plaque within blood vessels in the heart increased more in men who were given testosterone therapy than in a control group, according to the release. Gill said a larger and longer study is needed to determine the significance of these findings.

Neither group showed change in cognition, measured by verbal memory, visual memory, executive function and spatial ability, the release said.