Research

Hormonal

Initiation of testosterone therapy (TT) in men aged 65 years and older is associated with a significantly increased risk of non-fatal myocardial infarction within the first 90 days of prescription.

If you are a man over 65 starting testosterone therapy, be aware that your risk of a heart attack is roughly doubled in the first three months. This risk is highest in men with existing heart disease. Discuss this risk with your doctor, who may monitor you more closely or consider alternative treatments if you have significant cardiovascular history.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Among men aged 65 years and older, we observed a two-fold increase in the risk of MI in the 90 days after filling an initial TT prescription... In men aged 65 years and older the RR was 2.19 (1.27, 3.77)
William D. Finkle et al. · PLoS ONE · 2014

Why this rating

Observational cohort study using administrative claims data; while large and using robust statistical methods (doubly robust estimation), it lacks the controlled conditions of an RCT.

Source

Increased Risk of Non-Fatal Myocardial Infarction Following Testosterone Therapy Prescription in Men

William D. Finkle et al. · PLoS ONE · 2014

DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0085805

cohort · n=222872Cited 724×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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