Research

Hormonal

Exogenous testosterone therapy increases the risk of cardiovascular-related events in men, with an overall odds ratio of 1.54 compared to placebo.

If you are considering testosterone therapy, be aware that it may increase your risk of cardiovascular events. The overall risk is about 1.5 times higher than placebo. This risk appears higher in trials not funded by pharmaceutical companies. Discuss this risk with your doctor, especially if you have existing heart conditions or are older.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Testosterone therapy increased the risk of a cardiovascular-related event (odds ratio (OR) 1.54, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.09 to 2.18).
Lin Xu et al. · BMC Medicine · 2013

Why this rating

Meta-analysis of 27 RCTs with 2,994 participants provides high-quality evidence, though heterogeneity in event reporting exists.

Source

Testosterone therapy and cardiovascular events among men: a systematic review and meta-analysis of placebo-controlled randomized trials

Lin Xu et al. · BMC Medicine · 2013

DOI 10.1186/1741-7015-11-108

Meta-analysis · 27 studiesCited 554×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →