Military's testosterone screening program could lead to overtreatment and side effects, including impaired T production

5 days ago 8

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As recently as 2019, U.S. military health researchers had concerns about testosterone levels among the troops. Their worries were not that male service members didn't have enough of the hormone, as current Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fears. Instead, experts worried about the troops' inappropriate use of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), the practice of using injectables or gels to increase a person's circulating testosterone.

"Out of every 1,000 male service members, almost 3 are inappropriately receiving TRT," researchers wrote in a report published on Health.mil, the military's health system website. (That report is available on the Wayback Machine.)

This could lead to harmful side effects, the report authors noted.

"Those being inappropriately treated may experience adverse effects of the medication," including obstructive sleep apnea and edema, the report continued. TRT may Read Entire Article