Does testosterone therapy improve insulin sensitivity in patients with chronic heart failure?
Testosterone therapy may offer a novel approach to addressing metabolic disturbances like insulin resistance in chronic heart failure.
Chronic heart failure (CHF) primarily affects the cardiovascular system. In addition, there is strong evidence that CHF is a complex metabolic disorder. Metabolic abnormalities include insulin resistance and lack of anabolic hormone activity. To date there have been few interventional trials targeting insulin sensitivity. A recent study suggests a link between testosterone therapy and improvements in insulin sensitivity, measured using the homeostatic model assessment (HOMA-IR). We discuss this study in detail. Further studies are needed to substantiate this link and to generally explore the value of testosterone therapy in CHF patients.
Lainščak et al. (2006) studied this question.
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