Key facts
- Up to 26% of active-duty Army members could receive a low testosterone result from new mandatory screenings.
- Medical experts recommend against blanket screenings due to risks of unnecessary evaluations and overtreatment.
- The study analyzed blood samples from 479 male, active-duty Army service members.
- The Pentagon's clinical guidance uses a threshold of less than 300 ng/dL for low testosterone.
A new study published in JAMA suggests that mandatory low testosterone screenings announced by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth could lead to a significant number of active-duty Army members receiving potentially inaccurate results. Researchers estimate that up to 26% of service members might flag as having low testosterone based on the Pentagon's guidance, a figure substantially higher than the actual prevalence of clinically significant hypogonadism, which affects at most 1% of men. Medical experts, including the Endocrine Society and the American Urological Association, advise against such broad screenings due to the risk of unnecessary evaluations, inaccurate diagnoses, and potential harm from overtreatment. The study, which analyzed blood samples from 479 active-duty Army members, found that testosterone levels can be highly variable and influenced by factors like time of day, obesity, and illness. The military's screening process, which began in September, will involve initial symptom and risk factor assessments before proceeding to blood tests for some individuals, particularly those aged 30 and above.