Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23591366›Full record

ReviewNature reviews. Endocrinology2013

Risks and benefits of testosterone therapy in older men.

Matthew Spitzer, Grace Huang, Shehzad Basaria, Thomas G Travison, Shalender Bhasin

Abstract readReview
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Nature reviews. Endocrinology, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 66 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
66citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
15.1field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

66 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 152 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Trial
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  8. Short-Term Estrogen Withdrawal Increases Adiposity in Healthy Men.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2016
    Trial
  9. Trial
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  11. A Subset of Men With Age-Related Decline in Testosterone Have Gonadotroph Autoantibodies.The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism · 2016
    Trial
  12. Trial
  13. Review
  14. Testosterone and Bone Health in Men.Current osteoporosis reports · 2026
    Review
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article

6 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Matthew SpitzerThe Research Program in Men's Health: Ageing and Metabolism, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 221 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Grace Huang
Shehzad Basaria
Thomas G Travison
Shalender Bhasin
Brigham and Women's Hospital · USHarvard University · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In young men (defined as age<50 years) with classic hypogonadism caused by known diseases of the hypothalamus, pituitary or testes, testosterone replacement therapy induces a number of beneficial effects, for example, the development of secondary sex characteristics, improvement and maintenance of sexual function, and increases in skeletal muscle mass and BMD. Moreover, testosterone treatment in this patient population is associated with a low frequency of adverse events. Circulating testosterone levels decline progressively with age, starting in the second and third decade of life, owing to defects at all levels of the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis. In cohort studies, testosterone levels are associated weakly but consistently with muscle mass, strength, physical function, anaemia, BMD and bone quality, visceral adiposity, and with the risk of diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, falls, fractures and mortality. However, the clinical benefits and long-term risks of testosterone therapy--especially prostate-related and cardiovascular-related adverse events--have not been adequately assessed in large, randomized clinical trials involving older men (defined as age>65 years) with androgen deficiency. Therefore, a general policy of testosterone replacement in all older men with age-related decline in testosterone levels is not justified.

Indexed as

AgedAged, 80 and overHormone Replacement TherapyHumansMaleRisk AssessmentTestosteroneTestosterone

Identifiers

PMID23591366
OpenAlexW1997103278

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.