Research · PMID 27165609 · Landmark study

PubMed sourcedAbstract-based analysis

Reviewed by Neal Rouzier, MD, Preventive Medicine · Sep 2026

Survival and cardiovascular events in men treated with testosterone replacement therapy: an intention-to-treat observational cohort study.

The lancet. Diabetes & endocrinology · June 2016 · Christopher J D Wallis, Kirk Lo, Yuna Lee, Yonah Krakowsky, Alaina Garbens, et al.

What this study found

Conflicting evidence exists for the association between testosterone replacement therapy and mortality and cardiovascular events. The US Food and Drug Administration recently cautioned that testosterone replacement therapy might increase risk of heart attack and stroke, based on

Landmark studyretrospective_cohort

Why this trial matters

Observational TRT cardiovascular cohort

How RAGMD uses this study

Clinical questions this paper informs

Synthesis lives on the evidence question — this page shows where the study sits in that analysis.

Conflicting evidence

Does testosterone replacement increase cardiovascular risk?

Large randomized data (including TRAVERSE) do not show a significant increase in major adverse cardiovascular events with testosterone therapy in hypogonadal men over median follow-up of roughly three years. Older observational studies conflict, and absolute risk depends on baseline cardiovascular disease, formulation, and monitoring.

Open evidence analysis