New Study Finds No Link Between Testosterone Replacement Therapy and Blood Clots
A recent study has shown that there is no demonstrable link between testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) and developing blood clots.
Newsmax reports that researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston have concluded there is no link between the popular therapy for low testosterone (or “low T”) and blood clots. The study, which was recently published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, examined more than 30,000 adult men with low T from 2007 to 2012. Men receiving TRT were not at an increased risk for venous thromboembolism, the medical term for blood clots.
Dr. Jacques Baillargeon, Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health at UTMB and the lead researcher of the study, discredits the label warnings the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) placed on TRT products last year warning patients about the potential risks of developing blood clots.
“In 2014, the Federal Drug Administration required manufacturers to add a warning about potential risks of VTE to the label of all approved testosterone products,” Baillargeon said. “The warning, however, is based primarily on post-marketing drug surveillance and case reports. To date, there have been no published comparative, large-scale studies examining the association of testosterone therapy and the risk of VTE.”
In addition to finding no link between the therapy and blood clots, the study found there is no difference between how the therapy is administered (topical creams, transdermal patches, intramuscular injections, etc.) and the risk of developing venous thromboembolism.
Overall, Baillargeon pointed out that not only is there no risk of developing blood clots, there are serious health risks in leaving low T untreated.
“It is important to acknowledge, for a man who has medically-diagnosed low testosterone, that there are clear risks to not receiving testosterone therapy, including osteoporosis, sexual dysfunction, increased amounts of fat tissue, decreased lean muscle mass, possible metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease,” he said. “It’s also important to note that further research needs to be conducted to rigorously assess the long-term risks of testosterone therapy.”
Low T is a serious medical condition that affects about 13 million men in the United States. Unfortunately, many of low T’s symptoms are brushed off as signs of “aging.”
