Abstract
Objectives
The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between somatic health
and former abuse of AAS in former elite male athletes 30 years after the end of their
active sports career.
Design
Retrospective follow-up study.
Methods
N = 996 former elite male athletes were sent a questionnaire concerning sociodemographic
variables, previous and past sport activity and lifetime prevalence of seeking professional
help for health problems. N = 683 (68.6%) answered the questionnaire. The lifetime prevalence of AAS-abuse was 21%
(n = 143), while 79% (n = 540) did not admit having ever used AAS.
Results
Former AAS-abuse was associated with tendon ruptures (p = 0.01), depression (p = 0.001), anxiety (p = 0.01) and lower prevalence of prostate hypertrophy (p = 0.01) and decreased libido (p = 0.01). Former advanced AAS-abusers had higher anxiety (p = 0.004) compared to the former less advanced AAS-abusers. Moreover, former advanced
AAS-abusers, compared to AAS-naïves, reported more psychiatric problems (p = 0.002), depression (p = 0.003) and anxiety (p = 0.00).
Conclusions
A former AAS-abuse seems to be associated with some somatic and mental health problem,
although a former less advanced AAS-abuse is related to lower incidence of prostate
hypertrophy. The results raise the question whether some of these associations might
be dose- and frequency dependent. These findings should however be seen as hypothesis
generating and further studies are needed.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 21, 2017
Accepted:
March 13,
2017
Received in revised form:
February 13,
2017
Received:
April 25,
2016
Identification
Copyright
© 2017 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
