Insufficient Evidence that TRT Increases Risk of Thrombo-embolism

[Jinzang]

A yet unpublished meta-analysis showed that there is insufficient evidence to say that TRT increases the risk of thrombo-embolism. However, because of the poor quality of the evidence, the risk cannot be ruled out. A news report of the study says:

Because data on the issue has been limited, the researchers conducted a comprehensive systemic review, identifying 6 randomised controlled trials that included a total of 2,223 patients, and 5 observational studies involving a total of 1,249,640 patients.

The pooled analysis of all of the studies showed an odds ratio (OR) of 1.41 on the risk of VTE with testosterone use; however, the findings were wide-ranging (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.96-2.07).
Among the randomised controlled trials, 5 involved men with documented hypogonadism, and the observational studies included 2 case-control studies, 2 retrospective cohorts, and 1 retrospective cohort with a nested case-control study.
Differences between the studies were high (I-squared 84.4%), and in stratifying according to study design, the results showed randomised controlled trials had an OR of 2.05, (95% CI, 0.78-5.39), while cohort observational studies had an OR of 1.06 (95% CI, 0.85-1.33) and case-control studies had an OR of 1.34 (95% CI, 0.78-2.28).