Despite risk of stroke, heart attack, doctors prescribing testosterone

Despite warnings that supplemental testosterone may raise the risk of stroke and heart attack, doctors continue to prescribe the hormone off-label to men with cardiovascular disease, a US study has found.

After poring over 10 years of prescription data, researchers found that men with heart disease were no less likely than those without it to receive a testosterone prescription despite warnings from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2014 that the hormone might increase cardiovascular risk, researchers reported in JAMA Internal Medicine.

“We looked specifically at heart disease patients compared to those with no heart disease. It turned out that patients were more likely to get testosterone if they had heart disease,” said lead author Nancy Mordon of the Dartmouth Institute of Health Policy and Clinical Practice in Lebanon, New Hampshire.