A recent analysis of several studies has strengthened the link between low testosterone levels and strokes for men of any age. AndroGel was released on the market around the year 2000, advertised as a means of addressing “Low-T” (low testosterone) in men.

However, the self-diagnosis “test” included questions like, “Do you feel fatigued?” as well as questions about a lowered sex drive. These symptoms, according to experts, are also normal signs of aging in men and not necessarily a sign of hypogonadism (low testosterone).

There are a number of testosterone product makers who have been hit with testosterone product lawsuits, although AbbVie’s AndroGel is the most common alleged culprit. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has already forced makers of testosterone gels to address their overly aggressive marketing.

Dozens of testosterone gel lawsuits have been filed, claiming that the creams can cause serious and potentially life threatening problems, including heart attacks, strokes, pulmonary embolisms and deep vein thrombosis. Those testosterone gel claims are at the heart of the pending testosterone gel multidistrict litigation (MDL).

Denmark researchers studied health records of over 4,600 men who were part of the 1981-1983 Copenhagen City Heart Study. These men were tracked for as long as 29 years each. In total, 524 of these men had ischemic strokes and were around 74 years old on average.

However, it was men who had the lowest testosterone levels who were more likely to have these strokes. In fact, they were 33 percent more likely, according to researchers. The Denmark team presented their findings at the Chicago Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association’s meeting , which has also closely examined the results from four prospective studies. They found the same results in the meta-analysis.

In the follow-up analysis, 10,797 records of men were studied. Once again, the researchers found there was a higher risk of suffering a stroke the lower a man’s testosterone levels were. However, in the bigger analysis, there was an even stronger risk of having a stroke.

It should be taken into account that in the three studies the researchers selected, all men were a minimum of 65 years old when the study began. However, the meta-analysis study included men who were as young as 21. Still, there seemed to be no link between really low testosterone levels in women and strokes. There was also no link between very low estradiol levels and this type of stroke regardless of sex.

On the other hand, the researchers are adamant that the relationship they did find, with ischemic strokes and low testosterone levels, is key.

Previously, research suggested that the risk of suffering a stroke is strongest when linked to issues like obesity, which is also connected to low testosterone. However, prior research hasn’t securely established that low testosterone in and of itself is linked with these types of strokes.

There was an older Danish research team that published the paper “Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology” which focused on testosterone levels in 144 men who had recently had a stroke.

The Danish team found that “both total and free testosterone were significantly inversely associated with stroke severity and 6-month mortality, and total testosterone was significantly inversely associated with infarct size.

“The differences in total and free testosterone levels between patients and control subjects could not be explained by 10 putative risk factors for stroke, including age, blood pressure, diabetes, ischemic heart disease, smoking and atrial fibrillation,”

What does this mean for the low testosterone MDL? With both low testosterone and testosterone-rich creams and gels allegedly intertwined with strokes, it further complicates getting to the medical root of the issue. However, the testosterone product lawsuit MDL will continue moving forward.