Discordance Between Online Information and Male Hypogonadism Clinical Guidelines: A Global Multilingual Content Analysis
Authors' conclusion
We identify serious and frequent breaches of advertising law and regulations by clinics around the world offering testosterone treatment, with the potential to cause harm to men. We recommend enforcement of existing laws by national regulators to address this widespread public health challenge and align patient expectations with clinical guidelines for the safe treatment of men.
Study context
- Population
- Publicly accessible websites offering testosterone prescriptionsof 1138 websites
- Participants
- 253 websites
- Outcome
- Accuracy of extracted data determined using international guidelines
Methodological detailsmultilingual (English, Arabic, Hindi, Spanish), 3 search engines, virtual private network searches across multiple regions
- Multilingual (English, Arabic, Hindi, Spanish)
- 3 search engines
- Virtual private network searches across multiple regions
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Non-guideline-based practices (clinics)
- Routinely use nontestosterone androgens or testosterone secretagogues to treat symptomatic low testosterone
- 61/253; 24.4%
- Testosterone treatment reduces cardiovascular risk
- 52/253; 20.6%
- Microdosing improves treatment effects
- 30/253; 11.9%
- Testosterone prescribed for men with normal serum testosterone (>12 nmol/L)
- 25/253; 9.9%
- Testosterone has antiaging effects
- 25/253; 9.9%
Further findings
Non-guideline-based claims by region
- US-based clinics more frequently made non-guideline-based claims than other locations
Original publication
Discordance Between Online Information and Male Hypogonadism Clinical Guidelines: A Global Multilingual Content Analysis. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. Published 5 January 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →