A clinical trial of testosterone treatment in older men, reported June 30 online in the New England Journal of Medicine, has found a higher rate of adverse cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and elevated blood pressure, in a group of older men receiving testosterone gel compared to those receiving placebo. Due to these events, the treatment phase of the trial was stopped.

The study was supported by a grant to Shalender Bhasin, M.D., at Boston Medical Center from the National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health.