Use of testosterone in men infected with human immunodeficiency virus in the veterans healthcare system

Guneet K. Jasuja*, Shalender Bhasin, Adam J. Rose, Joel I. Reisman, Avy Skolnik, Dan R. Berlowitz, Allen L. Gifford

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Testosterone supplementation has been widely used in those infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) for hypogonadism, and wasting. But with effective antiretroviral therapy and increasing recognition of atherosclerotic disease and adults infected with HIV, the risks of inappropriate testosterone use in HIV-infected patients are far better recognized than previously. Testosterone use has expanded among U.S. males, but few studies have examined prescribing in those infected with HIV. In a national cohort of males with at least one outpatient prescription in the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), we examined 9475 HIV-infected males, including 2484 who had received testosterone and a randomly selected 6991 who had not. For comparison, we identified 1,387,241 uninfected males (189,369 had received testosterone and a randomly selected 1,197,872 had not). We determined rates of new and prevalent testosterone use, and also examined the adequacy of the diagnostic evaluation that had preceded testosterone initiation among our HIV-infected and uninfected testosterone groups. Our main results were as follows. HIV-infected men had higher rates of initiation (0.8% vs. 0.4% in FY09; p < 0.001) and prevalence of testosterone use (2.2% vs. 0.8% in FY08; p < 0.001) compared to the uninfected men across the entire period. Trends of prescribing for both groups followed a similar pattern, rising from FY08, reaching a peak in FY13, and then dipping in FY 14. Only 1.1% of HIV-infected patients had a fully guideline-concordant workup before starting testosterone therapy, compared to 3.5% of uninfected patients (p < 0.001). In conclusion, testosterone use among HIV-infected patients in the VHA system rose to a peak in FY13 and has decreased somewhat since. Only a small minority of HIV-infected patients who receive testosterone therapy from VHA have undergone an appropriate workup before starting therapy, suggesting an opportunity for improvement.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1207-1214
Number of pages8
JournalAIDS Care - Psychological and Socio-Medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV
Volume30
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - 3 Oct 2018
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Keywords

  • HIV
  • Testosterone
  • appropriate
  • prescribing
  • rates
  • veterans

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