title: Association of Testosterone Replacement With Cardiovascular Outcomes Among Men With Androgen Deficiency.
abstract: Controversy exists regarding the safety of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) following recent reports of an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events.
  
  
  
  To investigate the association between TRT and cardiovascular outcomes in men with androgen deficiency.
  
  
  
  A retrospective cohort study was conducted within an integrated health care delivery system. Men at least 40 years old with evidence of androgen deficiency either by a coded diagnosis and/or a morning serum total testosterone level of less than 300 ng/dL were included. The eligibility window was January 1, 1999, to December 31, 2010, with follow-up through December 31, 2012.
  
  
  
  Any prescribed TRT given by injection, orally, or topically.
  
  
  
  The primary outcome was a composite of cardiovascular end points that included acute myocardial infarction (AMI), coronary revascularization, unstable angina, stroke, transient ischemic attack (TIA), and sudden cardiac death (SCD). Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to investigate the association between TRT and cardiovascular outcomes. An inverse probability of treatment weight, propensity score methodology, was used to balance baseline characteristics.
  
  
  
  The cohorts consisted of 8808 men (19.8%) ever dispensed testosterone (ever-TRT) (mean age, 58.4 years; 1.4% with prior cardiovascular events) and 35 527 men (80.2%) never dispensed testosterone (never-TRT) (mean age, 59.8 years; 2.0% with prior cardiovascular events). Median follow was 3.2 years (interquartile range [IQR], 1.7-6.6 years) in the never-TRT group vs 4.2 (IQR, 2.1-7.8) years in the ever-TRT group. The rates of the composite cardiovascular end point were 23.9 vs 16.9 per 1000 person-years in the never-TRT and ever-TRT groups, respectively. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for the composite cardiovascular end point in the ever-TRT group was 0.67 (95% CI, 0.62-0.73. Similar results were seen when the outcome was restricted to combined stroke events (stroke and TIA) (HR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.62-0.84) and combined cardiac events (AMI, SCD, unstable angina, revascularization procedures) (HR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.60-0.72).
  
  
  
  Among men with androgen deficiency, dispensed testosterone prescriptions were associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular outcomes over a median follow-up of 3.4 years.
authors.affiliation: Southern California Permanente Medical Group, Department of Research & Evaluation, Pasadena.
authors.forename: T Craig
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Cheetham
authors.affiliation: Western University of Health Sciences, Pharmacy Practice and Administration, Pomona, California.
authors.forename: JaeJin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: An
authors.affiliation: Southern California Permanente Medical Group, Department of Research & Evaluation, Pasadena.
authors.forename: Steven J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Jacobsen
authors.affiliation: Kaiser Permanente Southern California, Drug Information Service, Downey.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Division of Research, Oakland.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sidney
authors.affiliation: Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Division of Research, Oakland.
authors.forename: Charles P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Quesenberry
authors.affiliation: Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Division of Research, Oakland.
authors.forename: Stephen K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: VanDenEeden
mesh_terms: D000728:Androgens / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000097:blood / Q000172:deficiency; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000145:classification / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004333:Drug Administration Routes; D016903:Drug Monitoring; D020249:Hormone Replacement Therapy / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013739:Testosterone / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000097:blood / Q000172:deficiency
chemical_list: D000728:Androgens; D013739:Testosterone