Link Between Testosterone and Prostate Cancer

March 14, 2006
Testosterone Replacement Therapy and the Risk of Prostate Cancer. Is there a link?

Writing in the Canadian Journal of Urology, Researcher Abraham Morgentaler of the Division of Urology, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, says that “there is an absence of scientific data supporting the concept that higher testosterone levels are associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer.”

Specifically, no increased risk of prostate cancer was noted in 1) clinical trials of testosterone supplementation, 2) longitudinal population-based studies, or 3) in a high-risk population of hypogonadal men receiving testosterone treatment. Moreover, hypogonadal men have a substantial rate of biopsy-detectable prostate cancer, suggesting that low testosterone has no protective effect against development of prostate cancer.

These results argue against an increased risk of prostate cancer with testosterone replacement therapy.

Morgentaler A.Testosterone replacement therapy and prostate risks: where’s the beef? Can J Urol. 2006 Feb;13 Suppl 1:40-3. Read the abstract

From our December 6, 2005 Newsletter
An article by Susan Brink of the Los Angeles Times recently appeared in newspapers around the country discussing the link between testosterone and prostate cancer.

The article says “The belief that testosterone increases the risk of prostate cancer is so widely accepted that study after study that tries to show it and can’t keeps getting repeated over and over,” says Dr. Abraham Morgentaler, a Boston urologist and author of the 2004 review. “People don’t believe it.”

Here is a press release from the Harvard Medical School.

“Boston–January 2004, Harvard Medical School affiliate Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center–A retrospective analysis by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center published in The New England Journal of Medicine found no causal relationship between testosterone replacement and prostate cancer or heart disease risk. The comprehensive review of 72 studies, addresses the current controversy about testosterone replacement therapy and its potential health risks to men.”

Low Testosterone and Men Over 45

Researchers writing in the International Journal of Clinical Practice, studied the prevalence of hypogonadism (testosterone deficiency) in men age 45 and over and found that nearly 39% of men over 45 suffered from hypogonadism. They noted “Odds ratios for having hypogonadism were significantly higher in men with hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, diabetes, obesity, prostate disease and asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than in men without these conditions.”

Mulligan T, Frick MF, Zuraw QC, Stemhagen A, McWhirter C. Prevalence of hypogonadism in males aged at least 45 years: the HIM study. Int J Clin Pract. 2006 Jun 2