Overview
- The Defense Health Agency reissued the clinical guideline on Sept. 17 that applies only to male service members and makes screening part of periodic health assessments for all men aged 30 and older.
- The guidance requires clinicians to first assess symptoms and risk factors and to confirm a diagnosis with two separate fasting morning blood tests rather than a single low reading.
- Treatment is voluntary and service members who decline evaluation or therapy will face no adverse personnel consequences according to the patient information sheet.
- Medical groups and clinicians have warned that population-level screening risks overdiagnosis, unnecessary prescribing and fertility harm because external testosterone can reduce sperm production, and the guidance flags deployment logistics for a controlled substance.
- The policy follows Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s July readiness push and sits alongside recent FDA shifts on testosterone labeling while separate guidance for female hormone care remains under review.