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Case Reports
. 2021 Feb 26;14(2):e241572.
doi: 10.1136/bcr-2021-241572.

Potential risk for developing severe COVID-19 disease among anabolic steroid users

Flavio Cadegiani  1   2 , Erica M Lin  3 , Andy Goren  4 , Carlos G Wambier  5
Affiliations
Case Reports

Potential risk for developing severe COVID-19 disease among anabolic steroid users

Flavio Cadegiani et al. BMJ Case Rep. .

Erratum in

Retraction in

Abstract

A severe case of COVID-19 was observed in an otherwise healthy 28-year-old man who had taken oxandrolone 40 mg/day as an anabolic steroid. The patient had been taking oxandrolone for enhanced bodybuilding 30 days prior to presenting to an outpatient clinic with COVID-19 symptoms. The patient reported that his symptoms have rapidly worsened over the course of 4 days prior to presenting at the clinic. As part of an experimental antiandrogen treatment for hyperandrogenic men suffering from COVID-19, he was administered a single 600 mg dose of the novel antiandrogen proxalutamide. Twenty-four hours after administration of this dose, marked improvement of symptoms and markers of disease severity were observed. To our knowledge, this is the first case that potentially links anabolic steroid use to COVID-19 disease severity.

Keywords: COVID-19; contraindications and precautions; drugs: respiratory system; general guidance on prescribing; infections.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

MeSH terms