title: Will testosterone replacement therapy become a new treatment of chronic heart failure? A review based on 8 clinical trials.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  According to the present evidences suggesting association between low testosterone level and prediction of reduced exercise capacity as well as poor clinical outcome in patients with heart failure, we sought to determine if testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) improves clinical and cardiovascular conditions as well as quality of life status in patients with stable chronic heart failure (CHF).
  
  
  METHODS
  We carried out a review based on 8 published clinical trials to determine whether TRT will benefit patients with CHF. Information of exercise capacity, hemodynamic parameters, electrocardiogram indicators, muscle strength, echocardiography guidelines and laboratory indexes were collected to assess clinical outcomes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that TRT could improve significantly exercise capacity, muscle strength and electrocardiogram indicators but no significant changes in ejection fraction (EF), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High-quality studies are required to better understand the clinical effects of testosterone.
authors.affiliation: 1 Emergency Center, 2 Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China ; 3 State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China ; 4 Department of Oncology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China ; 5 Institute of Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Nanjing 210028, China.
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: 1 Emergency Center, 2 Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China ; 3 State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China ; 4 Department of Oncology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China ; 5 Institute of Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Nanjing 210028, China.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: 1 Emergency Center, 2 Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China ; 3 State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China ; 4 Department of Oncology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China ; 5 Institute of Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Nanjing 210028, China.
authors.forename: Chunyu
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: 1 Emergency Center, 2 Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China ; 3 State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China ; 4 Department of Oncology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China ; 5 Institute of Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Nanjing 210028, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: 1 Emergency Center, 2 Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China ; 3 State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China ; 4 Department of Oncology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China ; 5 Institute of Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Nanjing 210028, China.
authors.forename: Kejiang
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: 1 Emergency Center, 2 Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China ; 3 State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China ; 4 Department of Oncology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China ; 5 Institute of Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Nanjing 210028, China.
authors.forename: Lian-Wen
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Qi
authors.affiliation: 1 Emergency Center, 2 Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China ; 3 State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China ; 4 Department of Oncology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China ; 5 Institute of Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Nanjing 210028, China.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: 1 Emergency Center, 2 Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China ; 3 State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China ; 4 Department of Oncology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China ; 5 Institute of Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Nanjing 210028, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: 1 Emergency Center, 2 Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China ; 3 State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China ; 4 Department of Oncology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China ; 5 Institute of Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Nanjing 210028, China.
authors.forename: Baoli
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: 1 Emergency Center, 2 Department of Cardiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China ; 3 State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210009, China ; 4 Department of Oncology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Medical University, Nanjing 210029, China ; 5 Institute of Occupational Disease Prevention and Treatment, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Nanjing 210028, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
keywords: Heart failure (HF); testosterone; therapy