Thursday, June 16, 2011

Testosterone vs Heart Failure Part 2

Last November, I wrote about a possible association between testosterone & heart failure (HF).  It must have resonated because that single post was the most viewed everyday, up until last month.  In fact, during these past 6 months, it's been viewed more than twice as often as my 2nd most popular post (regarding exercise & prostate cancer), which itself had more than twice the readership of my 3rd most popular post (regarding how cigarettes can kill you).  Yet, no one has asked me about taking testosterone for their heart failure.  Curious.

In doing some research, I realized that my review last fall left out a small study published in April 2010 of 191 men average age 64 years old w/HF (both systolic w/loss of ejection fraction (EF <40%) as well as diastolic w/preserved EF >40%).  Total & free testosterone along w/DHEA-S were measured prior to following these patients for close to 3 years.

Researchers noted no correlation between total testosterone and New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification & all-cause mortality.  However, free testosterone & DHEA-S were both inversely correlated with NYHA class and all-cause mortality.

But due to confounding factors, the authors could not unequivocally report an association between androgens and mortality since poor health may have begotten the decrease in testosterone.  Remember association does not prove causation.  Nonetheless, I believe this possible link bears close monitoring.  Further details to come . . .

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