Health News
2006-03-11
Steroid can help
reverse HIV-related wasting
Oral anabolic
steroid may be effective in restoring body mass lost
through HIV-related wasting.
A study in the
March issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndromes shows that the oral anabolic
steroid oxandrolone may be effective in restoring body mass
lost through HIV-related wasting syndrome, Reuters
Health reports. Researchers at the University of
California, San Francisco, treated 262 HIV-positive men who
had lost 10% to 20% of their body mass with one of three
doses of oxandrolone for 12 weeks or with a placebo.
The men who took the steroid at any dosage gained
weight and muscle tissue; the men in the placebo group
showed no significant weight gain.
Steroid use did
have adverse side effects, say the researchers, chief
among them an increase in LDL—or
“bad”—cholesterol and a drop in
HDL—or “good”—cholesterol.
Some of the study subjects who took the steroid also
showed early signs of liver toxicity.
Current
HIV-related wasting treatments include the use of
nutritional supplements; a drug called megestrol
acetate, which produces increases mostly in body fat;
and human growth hormones like Serono’s Serostim,
which cost thousands of dollars for a few weeks of
treatment, reports Reuters Health. But the researchers
say that because anabolic steroids produce increases
in both muscle tissue and fat, the compounds could be
useful for some HIV patients experiencing severe wasting,
even in light of the potential adverse side effects.
HIV-related
wasting is a relatively common condition among HIV patients,
particularly those with advanced disease. Wasting puts
HIVers at a higher risk of opportunistic infections
and other HIV-related complications. (Advocate.com)
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