Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Prevalence and awareness of anabolic androgenic steroid use among male body builders in Jazan, Saudi Arabia

Ahmed Bahri¹, Mohamed Salih Mahfouz¹ , Nasser Mohammed Marran², Yahya Hadi Dighriri², Hatem Saeed Alessa², Moneer Ogiby Khwaji², Syed Mahmood Zafar¹

¹Department of Community Medicine; ²Faculty of Medicine, Jazan University, Jazan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

For correspondence:- Mohamed Mahfouz Email: mm.mahfouz@gmail.com Tel:+6656232711

Received: 18 November 2016 Accepted: 9 May 2017 Published: 29 June 2017

Citation: Bahri A, Mahfouz MS, Marran NM, Dighriri YH, Alessa HS, Khwaji MO, et al. Prevalence and awareness of anabolic androgenic steroid use among male body builders in Jazan, Saudi Arabia. Trop J Pharm Res 2017; 16(6):1425-1430 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v16i6.29

© 2017 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the prevalence and awareness of anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) use among male bodybuilders visiting gyms in Jazan region, Saudi Arabia.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 500 male bodybuilders visiting gyms in the Jazan region of Saudi Arabia. Information on demographics, as well as the use of AAS, was included in a self-administered questionnaire.

Results: The prevalence of AAS in Jazan was 31.0 % (95 % CI, 26.9 - 49.6), and it was higher among those in the 30 - 34 years 45.3 % (95 % CI, 36.9 - 54.0). Its prevalence was also significantly higher among athletes who received higher education 37.4% (95 % CI, 31.8 - 43.4). The most common types of AAS used are Deca-Durabolin (57.6 %) and testosterone (52 %). Thirty percent of the participants who used AAS suffered from depression and aggressive behavior while 18 % of them were hypertensive. The participants were not well aware of the adverse effects of anabolic steroids use.

Conclusion: The prevalence of the anabolic steroids is high among bodybuilding males visiting gyms in Jazan region, Saudi Arabia. Health educational programs are required to increase the awareness about the side effects of anabolic steroids among bodybuilders.

Keywords: Anabolic steroids, Bodybuilders, Deca-durabolin, Testosterone