Men from all over the country may be starting to rethink whether taking testosterone therapy is worth the benefits. A new study has linked prescription testosterone drugs with increased heart attack risk in a large demographic of men.
The report, which was published in PLOS ONE in January 2014, involved nearly 56,000 testosterone drug users and found heart attack risk doubled in men younger than 65 with a history of heart disease and in all men older than 65 during the first three months of use.
In response to this study as well as another one published in November 2013, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating the connection between testosterone drugs and cardiac events such as heart attack, stroke and death.
These studies aren’t the first to associate heart problems with testosterone treatments. A 2009 study called severe heart failure a possible risk, and research from 2010 linked the drugs to an increased risk for cardiovascular events in men over 65.
Yet the commercials continue, and more men are prescribed testosterone therapies to treat a variety of issues including fatigue, low testosterone levels (Low-T), sexual dysfunction and more. And annual prescriptions for the drugs increased more than five-fold from 2000 to 2011, according to a study published in JAMA last year.
How many men would have avoided testosterone drugs if they had known that the risk for cardiovascular events may double?
Men who have suffered a cardiac event while taking a testosterone therapy drug are urged to contact a law firm immediately to protect their legal rights.
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