Pulmonary Rehabilitation: The Reference Therapy for Undernourished Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Table 1

Clinical studies and trials having tested different protocols of androgen therapy in COPD patients.

Study	Drug/administration route	𝑁	GOLD stage	Fat-free mass (FFM) loss	Method of FFM assessment	Dose	Frequency	Duration
Schols et al. [70]	Dandrolone decanoate/IM	217	II, III	FFM < 67% (men)/<63% (women) of ideal weight	BIA	M: 50 mg; W: 25 mg	1x/2 weeks	6 weeks
Ferreira et al. [71]	Mixture of testosterone phenylpropionate, isocaproate, propionate, caproate/IM unique dose, and then; stanozolol/PO	Total = 23,; 17 completed study	II, III	—	DEXA	M: 250 mg; M: 12 mg	“Charging dose”; 1x/day	Unique dose; 27 weeks
Yeh et al. [68]	Oxandrolone/PO	Total = 128; 55 included in 4-month analysis	II, III	—	BIA	M: 10 mg; W: 10 mg	2x/day; 2x/day	16 weeks
Casaburi et al. [25]	Testosterone enanthate/IM	Total = 53; 47 completed protocol	II, III, IV	—	DEXA	M: 100 mg	1x/week	10 weeks
Pison et al. [72]	Testosterone undecanoate/ PO	126	II, III, IV	<25th percentile of predicted FFMI: <18 (men); <15 (women)	BIA	M: 80 mg; W: 40 mg	2x/day; 2x/day	12 weeks
Svartberg et al. [69]	Testosterone enanthate/IM	29	II, III	—	DEXA	M: 250 mg	1x/4 weeks	26 weeks

BIA: bioelectrical impedance analysis; DEXA: dual energy X-ray absorptiometry; FFM: fat-free mass; FFMI: fat-free mass index (=FFM (kg)/height (m)²; IM: intramuscular; M: men; PO: per os; W: women.