Table 2

Outcome	Meta-analysis	Other analysis	Conclusion	Quality of evidence
Weight change	No significant change in weight compared with placebo or anabolic steroids.	Compared with placebo, mean weight gain was positive in all included studies (significant in four).	Progesterone therapy is likely to cause a small increase in weight.	GRADE scale: moderate
LBM	Insufficient data to compare with placebo. Comparison with anabolic steroids: no significant difference.	Five of the six studies where data were available reported an increase in mean LBM (significant in one).	Progesterone therapy may cause a small increase in LBM, but this is unlikely to be of any significant magnitude.	GRADE scale: low
Appetite	Insufficient data.	All three studies where data were available reported significant improvement in appetite. Two others also reported significant results.	Progesterone therapy is likely to cause an improvement in appetite.	GRADE scale: low
Muscle strength	No study measured this outcome.	Nil	There is no evidence to show progesterone therapy has any influence over muscle strength.
HRQOL	Insufficient data.	In all four studies, mean change in HRQOL measures was positive (but unclear is significantly so).	Progesterone therapy may cause some improvement in HRQOL measures.	GRADE scale: low
Serum albumin	No significant change in serum albumin compared with placebo.	In five of the six studies where data were available, mean change in serum albumin was positive (only significant in one study).	Progesterone therapy may cause a small increase in serum albumin.	GRADE scale: low

GRADE, Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations; HRQOL, health-related quality of life; LBM, lean body mass.