The monitoring of prolonged effects of anabolic - androgenic steroid on cardiovascular indices in former bodybuilders

There are many studies about the acute effects of anabolic androgenic steroids on the cardiovascular system, however, there is little information on its prolonged effects. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term effects of anabolic - androgenic steroids on cardiovascular indices in the former bodybuilders.
Twenty-three male people were divided into 3 groups: former bodybuilders (n=8), young current anabolic anderogenic steroid (AAS) users bodybuilders (n=8) and control (n=7) groups. Body composition, hemodynamic cardiovascular stress responses such as systolic and diastolic blood pressure, double product, mean arterial pressure and heart rate was evaluated prior and after an exhaustive test on a treadmill.
The one way ANOVA showed no significantly changes between former bodybuilders and controlgroups before and after exercise (p>0.05). But heart rate (p=0.001), diastolic blood pressure (formers-young, p=0.002 and young-control, p=0.01) and double product (young-control, p=0.05 and formers-young, p=0.04) were significantly higher in young current users group as compare to other groups.
The results of this study confirmed the reversibility of cardiovascular hemodynamic performance after discontinuation of long-term of using of anabolic androgenic steroids, although more study is needed to confirm these findings.