Does Testosterone Replacement Cause Heart Attacks in Men

One of my patients recently presented me with a question about whether or not replacing testosterone could cause heart attacks and strokes in men. He had heard about a study that was done at Veterans’ Hospital which concluded that there was an increased risk of stroke or heart attack associated with this type of treatment. This week’s podcast is a discussion about my patient’s question. Hopefully, it will help reassure our listeners about the safety of replacing testosterone in men in general, as well as educate them about how to consider or evaluate “scientific” studies as they are presented in the mass media. One of the frustrations that I have is that people consume mass media from a perspective of the headlines. They tend to read and absorb the short, succinct message of a headline without digging into more detail in the article. There is also a well-documented tendency to believe things you see in the press. I would strongly encourage you to take more care in reaching conclusions about health care based on media representations of limited studies.