NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Elderly men with limitations in mobility who are treated with testosterone to improve strength appear to be at increased risk of cardiovascular-related adverse events, according to a report published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

To investigate the safety of testosterone therapy in this population, the researchers enrolled 209 men, mean age 74 years with limited mobility and total serum testosterone levels between 100 and 350 ng/dL in a trial of daily topical testosterone gel versus placebo.

Physical strength improved in the active treatment group as compared to the placebo group. However, over the course of 6 months, cardiovascular events occurred in 23 men and 5 men in the two groups, respectively.

The lead author pointed out, “Testosterone therapy has generally been found to be safe in young men with hypogonadism, a condition for which testosterone is currently approved. In contrast, the older men with mobility problems who were enrolled in (this) trial had a high burden of chronic diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and lipid disorders which may have rendered them at greater risk for cardiovascular events during testosterone therapy.”

The authors do say that the small number and the variety of adverse events suggest that the findings could be happenstance.

Still, they concluded, “Given the findings of this research study, older patients and their physicians should carefully weigh the risks of testosterone therapy in their treatment decisions.”

Reference:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1000485

N Engl J Med 2010.