Testosterone Finasteride Improves Body Composition After Spinal Cord Injury: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study

March 2023 in “ Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation ”

Joshua Yarrow, Jayachandra Kura, Dana Otzel, Larissa Nichols, Christine Conover, Chris Gregory, David Clark, Christopher Sonntag, Anita Wokhlu, Charles Levy, Charles Plumlee, Robert Sammel, Kevin White

testosterone finasteride Propecia

TLDR Testosterone and finasteride improve body composition in men with spinal cord injury.

This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study involving 10 men with chronic incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) and low to low-normal testosterone levels found that high-dose testosterone plus finasteride (T+F) significantly improved body composition. Over 6 to 12 months, T+F increased testosterone levels by more than 100% and led to notable increases in lean mass and reductions in fat mass across the whole body, trunk, and legs compared to placebo. These findings suggest that T+F could be beneficial for improving body composition in this population, warranting further investigation in larger clinical trials.

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12 citations, January 1998 in “Drug safety”

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