"Testosterone is one of the most useful blood tests we have to gauge health in men," Mohammed said.
"Broader screening would identify many men with reversible causes and some with true deficiency."
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Dr. Ugis Gruntmanis, an endocrinologist at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, pointed out that most testosterone studies have focused on older demographics, not younger service members.
He added that implementing widespread screening without preliminary study data would be "putting the carriage before the horse."
The screening mandate partly aims to address "operator syndrome" in special forces like Delta Force and Navy Seals, which involves hormonal dysregulation alongside traumatic brain injuries.
Dr. B.
Christopher Frueh of the University of Hawaii, who first described the syndrome in 2020, cautioned that special forces operators face extreme combat exposures not representative of the broader military.
"These operators are at an extreme end of a spectrum," Frueh said.
"They have much higher exposures to blasts, airplane jumps, firing all kinds of different weapons, shoulder-fired rockets, machine guns."
Frueh suggested younger soldiers could regulate hormones through lifestyle adjustments rather than immediately relying on medical replacement therapies.
He questioned whether screening 100% of personnel is necessary, noting that female soldiers would unlikely need testosterone replacement but broad screening could reveal data on other hormonal interventions for women.
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The Pentagon declined to comment beyond its brief official statement and has not provided detailed guidance on evaluating abnormal results or whether screenings will apply equally to male and female personnel.
