Are older men overdosing in testosterone, unnecessarily? A new research noted the growing overuse among the aforesaid demographic, with the "sharp" surge of testosterone prescriptions since 2006.

Professor David Handelsman of the University of Sydney, in a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA), attributed this increase to “promotional activity.” Analysing data from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and IMS, a company that provides national sales data year by year, Handelsman found that the otherwise ”stable market growth” was disrupted by sharp increase by two new testosterone products. These two products are “a gel” and “a long-acting injectable version” made by a single company, which is also the sole supplier of the products.

"There is growing overuse of testosterone in older men as an anti-ageing tonic and non-specific treatment for sexual dysfunction, for which sound evidence is lacking. Yet at the same time genuine low-testosterone conditions due to diseases of the reproductive system remain underdiagnosed," observed Handelsman.

Professor David Handelsman is also the director of the ANZAC Research Institute at Concord Hospital. His most recent student, published in Clinical Endocrinology, is preceded by a related study that suggests testosterone decline in older men is a result of medical conditions and ill health, and not of ageing. In other words, it suggest that testosterone decline in older men is not caused by ageing, but by diseases associated with ageing. The study seems to support that as long as a man is healthy, getting older does not, in itself, result to a decline in testosterone level.

Male adults experience a decline in their testosterone level as they get older. Studies show that the steroid hormone is important for health, wellbeing, and prevention of osteoporosis as well as prostate cancer. More famously, the hormone is tied to active sexual lifestyle, and bone and muscle mass.

According to the press release, Handelsman’s two studies “underlines the inappropriateness of the increasing sales of testosterone to older men” as highlighted in his article for MJA. Handelsman observed that “new uses” of testosterone should be limited to “clinical trials” carefully designed to find out if any objective benefit can be derived from testosterone treatment for conditions “that accumulate as men age” like obesity, diabter or cardiovascular diseases.