People who are suffering from the dreaded HIV-virus and making use of anabolic steroids to prevent AIDS wasting tend to gain modest gains in terms of muscle mass and weight, according to a new review.
This review was published in an issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration.
The magnitude of weight gain may be clinically relevant, as per lead author Karen Johns, a Medical Assessment Officer from the Agency Health Canada.
From News-Medical.Net:
Anabolic steroids are synthetic substances similar to the male sex hormone testosterone that promote growth of skeletal muscle and the development of male sexual characteristics.
Although most recently in the news for their misuse by professional athletes, anabolic steroids have legitimate medical application for men with low testosterone and people with certain types of anemia. Two anabolic steroids available in the United States, nandrolone decanoate and oxandrolone, have been used to help increase weight and muscle mass in small studies of people with wasting.
Conversely, anabolic steroid use has been associated with increased rates of HIV in those who share needles or use nonsterile needles when they inject steroids.
In the review studies, anabolic steroids were administered to patients either orally or by injection. The main side effects were mild and included abnormal liver function tests; acne; mild increase in body hair; breast tenderness; increased libido, aggressiveness and irritability; and mood swings — all common side effect of anabolic steroid use.
“The risks and side effects of taking anabolic steroids long-term are certainly of concern,” Johns said. “We were unable to assess these risks in our review due to the short duration of treatment in the studies.”
It is worth nothing that AIDS wasting results in considerable loss of body weight in HIV-patients apart from muscle loss. It stems from human body’s inability to promote muscle growth and testosterone levels, which can be effectively handled with anabolic steroids.
