Study of Anabolic Steroids and the Awareness of their Complications in Bodybuilding Athletes in Karaj(2003)

One of the major problems in all kinds of sports, specially bodybuilding and powerlifting, is anabolic steroids abuse. Common and sometimes life-threatening complications of these drugs have always been important among athletes. The use of these drugs was common among athletes in 1950s, and since then, there has been some reports from all over the world about their complications. Liver tumors, gynecomastia, short stature in adolescents and hair loss in athletes are some of the most common complications. Due to some reports about anabolic steroids abuse in athletes in our country, this study was undertaken to determine the frequency of using anabolic steroids and athletes awareness of them. In this cross-sectional study, 403 bodybuilding athletes from 9 clubs in Karaj were studied through a multistage random sampling method. Method of collecting data was a questionnaire with 25 demographic and specific questions about athletes’ awareness of anabolic steroids complications. SPSS software (ver 11), chi-squared test, t-test, correlation and ANOVA were used for data analysis. Athletes’ mean age was 22.6(±8) and most of them had education under diploma(47.1%). Proportion of the current use of anabolic steroids among athletes was 13% and former use of these drugs was reported in 13% of the athletes. Oxymetholone was the most common anabolic steroids among athletes(16.7%) and 22.2% of them used injectable drugs. The total score of the questionnaire was 400, out of which the mean score of athletes’ awareness was 66.8. The highest score belonged to Nandrolone complications. There was a significant positive correlation between athletes’ awareness of anabolic steroids and their age, level of education and their experiences. On the whole, the history of at least single use of anabolic steroids in athletes’ was 26% which is a high and worrying proportion. Athletes’ awareness of drug complications was very low therefore, making them aware of these complications and conducting researches on young people’s attitude towards these drugs is recommended.