The Prevalence and Characteristics of Performance-Enhancing Drug Use Among Bodybuilding Athletes in the South of Iran, Bushehr.
BACKGROUND
Several reports have implied progressive increase of performance-enhancing drug (PED) use among Iranian athletes. More importantly, most of the previous research in the Iranian population had mainly focused on the anabolic steroid abuse, and ignored other agents.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and characteristics of PED use among bodybuilding athletes in Bushehr, south of Iran.


METHODS
Four hundred and fifty three male bodybuilding athletes were recruited from Bushehr gyms between February and May of 2015. Men were eligible to participate in the survey if they had regularly participated in the strength-training exercise (minimum of 1 year and 4 hour/week). Data were collected via a face-to-face interview. The survey consisted of three separate parts including demographic data, exercise pattern and PED use.


RESULTS
According to this study, 234 (51.7%) of bodybuilding athletes had used PEDs. The PED users reported an average of 3.80 ± 4.52 agents' use in their programs and they had used PEDs for the average of 3.24 ± 3.99 years. The most prevalent agents which had been abused by the athletes were anabolic steroids (used by 185 athletes (79.4% of athletes). Furthermore, 110 (47%) of athletes reported stimulant agents' use during their routines. The most prevalent motivation for using PEDs was increasing muscle mass that was reported by 164 (70.1%) of PED users. In addition, sexual and dermatologic effects were the most prevalent adverse effects reported by the PED user athletes (114 (49.4%) and 103 (44.2%), respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
This study showed the high rate of PED use among recreational and professional Iranian bodybuilding athletes that can expose them to the serious side effects of these agents.
The Persian Gulf Tropical Medicine Research Center, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, IR Iran.
Mohammad Javad
MJ
Haerinejad
The Persian Gulf Tropical Medicine Research Center, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, IR Iran.
Afshin
A
Ostovar
Department of Pathology, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, IR Iran.
Mohamad Reza
MR
Farzaneh
Department of Pharmacology, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, IR Iran.
Mojtaba
M
Keshavarz
Anabolic Agents; Performance Enhancing Drugs; Prevalence; Stimulants