Testosterone Replacement Therapy and Components of the Metabolic Syndrome

The prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) is rapidly increasing in the United States and, because of its strong association with male hypogonadism, has become a significant topic of interest in the sexual medicine community. At the center of this conversation is the efficacy and safety of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) as a therapeutic option for HG and MetS.

To provide a review of the current literature pertaining to TRT and MetS.

A thorough literature review was performed to review the relation between TRT and MetS using the PubMed online database from 1976 through 2016 with the keywords testosterone, hypogonadism, metabolic syndrome, and testosterone therapy.

Outcomes pertaining to MetS including weight, waist circumference, body mass index, blood glucose control, cholesterol parameters, blood pressure, and quality of life.

From the plethora of contrasting literature on the efficacy and safety of TRT, it is increasingly clear that more well-designed studies are needed to clarify the efficacy and safety of TRT. Although most of the current literature shows that TRT has the potential to significantly lower the studied outcome variables associated with MetS, several studies provide more mixed results.

TRT has the potential to alleviate some of the morbidity associated with hypogonadism and MetS. Larger multicenter well-designed studies are needed to better describe and quantify the relation between MetS and TRT. Anaissie J, Roberts NH, Wang P, et al. Testosterone Replacement Therapy and Components of the Metabolic Syndrome. Sex Med Rev 2017;5:200-210.