Steroid Helps Patients Regain Weight

An anabolic steroid show success helping seriously ill and injured people gain weight and restore muscle mass.

Two studies presented at CHEST 2002, the 68th annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians, show the anabolic steroid, oxandrolone, helps seriously ill and injured people gain more weight and lean body mass, and lose fat mass.

In one study, patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, whose condition had caused them to lose weight, were placed on oxandrolone or a placebo for four months. Involuntary weight loss, or muscle wasting, affects 25 percent of patients with COPD. Muscle wasting impairs patients’ already compromised respiratory function and, in many cases, contributes to death from COPD. Patients on the steroid gained more weight and lean body mass and lost more fat mass than those on placebo.

The anabolic steroid also proved to be successful in helping patients suffering from severe burns. In the other study, either oxandrolone or a placebo was administered to the critically ill patients, all of whom were on mechanical ventilation and receiving high-protein nutrition. The patients on oxandrolone gained more weight and muscle mass in less time than the placebo group during the 28-day study.

Previously published studies have shown anabolic steroids are beneficial to sick and injured people who need to regain weight. Anabolic steroids often have a negative connotation due to the recent reports of their use and abuse by athletes. But these studies suggest that they have some significantly beneficial effects in critically ill patients, and the results of the studies should stimulate investigators to further study these drugs.”