TRT improves depressive symptoms

[Jinzang]

A meta-analysis of existing clinical trials found that TRT reduces depression in hypogonadal men with mild depression, but not in men with major depression. The full text of the article is online.

Studies were considered eligible if they included adult men with late-onset TD (total testosterone <350&#8197;ng/ml and age >30&#8197;yr.) treated with TRT, used placebo groups comparison arm, were randomized clinical trials (RCTs), included at least 10 individuals per treatment arm, and assessed the impact of TRT on depression compared with that of placebo. TRT reduces depressive symptoms, according to data coming from small-sized, placebo-controlled RCTs of patients with pretreatment clinical mild depression. This impact was not noticed in men with major depressive disorders. In patients without pretreatment depression, TRT leads to a reduction of scores for depressive symptoms; however, clinical value of this is difficult to measure.