Does Testosterone Improve Older Men’s Health? It Depends

Many men over 65 with low testosterone levels say their sense of well-being, not to mention sexual function, isn’t what it used to be.

That’s why some doctors prescribe testosterone replacement. But the effectiveness of testosterone has been controversial. Studies of the risks and benefits have been mixed, and the Food and Drug Administration beefed up its warnings about cardiac side effects of testosterone supplementation in 2015.

And the findings of five studies released Tuesday aren’t likely to clear up the confusion. They appear in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association and JAMA Internal Medicine.

The studies are collectively called the Testosterone Trials (TTrials) and they compared a testosterone gel, AndroGel, against a placebo. The results are based on 788 men with below normal levels of testosterone studied at 12 sites across the country over a year.

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