According to suggestions of a new review, patients suffering from HIV who are treated with anabolic steroids for prevention of AIDS wasting tend to experience modest gains in weight and muscle mass.

The concerned review covered thirteen studies of adults aged 24-42 with HIV, 294 of whom received anabolic steroids for a period of at least 6 weeks and 238 of whom were administered with placebo. It was noticed that the average weight increase in those administered with anabolic steroids was approximately three pounds.

From News-Medical.Net:

AIDS wasting, which leads to significant weight loss in people with HIV, causes severe loss of weight and muscle and can lead to muscle weakness, organ failure and shortened lifespan. Researchers have long sought to reverse this common, destructive effect of HIV with mixed success.

The wasting stems from loss of the body’s ability to grow muscle and from low levels of testosterone.

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.

Lead author Karen Johns, a medical assessment officer from the agency Health Canada, remarked that the side effects and risks of using anabolic steroids in the long-term is surely of a concern.

Tags: AIDS wasting, Anabolic steroid use, anabolic steroids, nandrolone decanoate, oxandrolone, placebo, steroid use, steroids

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