Testosterone and Cardiovascular Disease
Cardiovascular disease is still the number one killer of Americans. By quite a bit it turns out. There has been a long time fear suggesting that testosterone causes or worsens cardiovascular health. However, there is no evidence showing increased cardio-vascular (CV) mortality or morbidity with Testosterone therapy. This fear is due to media fearmongering after two studies reporting increased cardiovascular risks. Both of these studies had major flaws. One misreported results, the other had no control group.
Turns out that low testosterone will increase the risk of atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease. Atherosclerosis is a disease state of the vasculature that leads to plaque buildup within the arteries, this leads to thickening and results in reduced blood flow to the heart and higher likelihood of heart attack. Medical literature has concluded that there is no increased risk of cardiovascular disease with testosterone therapy. Even in men with metabolic conditions such as diabetes, will reduce their risk with testosterone therapy.
A growing body of evidence suggests higher testosterone levels reduce risk of CV disease and are in fact cardioprotective. This is because testosterone is a vasoactive hormone and a man on TRT benefits from the increased levels of estradiol that come with higher testosterone levels. Men who receive testosterone therapy and achieve normal testosterone levels had a lower rate of cardiovascular events and mortality versus men with persistently low testosterone levels.
