Source: Gastroenterology  |  Posted 9 years ago

By Koren Capozza
Special to DG News

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- June 21, 2002 -- Testosterone treatment may significantly improve quality of life and exercise ability in men with congestive heart failure, according to findings presented Wednesday at the Endocrinology Society?s Annual Meeting.

More than 50 percent of patients die within five years of diagnosis and symptoms include breathlessness, inability to exercise and depression, and is associated with a poor prognosis. Because the condition disproportionately affects men, researchers suspect that testosterone may play a role.

A team of scientists from Britain studied the impact of testosterone therapy on 20 men, mean age 61.5 years, in a randomized double blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. Half of the subjects received 100 mg of testosterone, the rest took a placebo, every two days for two weeks.

Subjects? cardiac function was assessed using echocardiography and exercise capacity was measured with a shuttle walk test - an exercise where the subject walks down a linear course while increasing speed every 10 meters.

After 12 weeks, the testosterone group achieved a 34 percent increase in exercise capacity compared to 2 percent for the control group. In fact, the men who received testosterone were able to walk about one football field farther than the men in the placebo group. In addition, the testosterone treatment improved depression and heart failure symptoms while causing few side effects.

"Testosterone therapy appears to be a useful add-on treatment for improving functional capacity and providing symptom relief in men with chronic congestive heart failure," said lead author Dr. T. Hugh Jones, of University of Sheffield Medical School in Sheffield, United Kingdom.

Dr. Jones cautioned, however, that a much larger study is necessary to fully understand how testosterone influences physical function in adults with chronic congestive heart failure.