Testosterone for Menopause May Carry Heart Risks
In a large retrospective cohort, postmenopausal women using testosterone carried roughly eight times the risk of developing cardiovascular disease over 5 years, and the elevated risk held at 10 years and beyond. The lead researcher is explicit that this is an association rather than proof of harm, since women who receive testosterone may differ from those who do not in many ways. He also highlights the gap between the lack of a safety signal in selected trial populations and genuine proof of long-term heart safety in the wider population. The findings were presented as a poster at the Menopause Society annual meeting.
For you: Worth knowing if testosterone is part of your menopause conversation: its long-term heart safety is unproven, and this records study points the wrong way.
What it shows: Reported by MedPage Today and not verified by us: we could not trace this story to a published paper, so treat it as news rather than evidence we have checked.