BODY WEIGHT AS AN INDEX OF THERAPEUTIC EFFECT IN ANABOLIC STEROID THERAPY *

The efficacy of anabolic steroid therapy has often been challenged because of equivocal clinical evidence of weight gain. In view of this challenge, 21 chronically underweight, geriatric patients in a state hospital were chosen for a study to determine the effect of a new synthetic anabolic preparation, norbolethone. Long‐term weight charts were used to determine confidence limits. After a one‐month placebo trial, placebo responders were identified; then the active preparation was given for fourteen weeks. The data indicated that spurious results can be obtained if strict criteria are not used for changes in body weight. Of the 21 study patients, as many as 18 could have been reported as showing a weight gain if only a short pre‐study period had been used for the baseline. However, when the placebo responders and yearly weight fluctuations were accounted for, only 4 patients showed significant gains in weight, and only 2 of these maintained their gains until the completion of the anabolic phase of the study. Unless stringent criteria are applied, gross body weight alone cannot be used as a reliable index of the therapeutic effect of anabolic steroids.