Jun 15, 2012 - The aim of this study is to analyse the use of non-medical anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) among. Brazilian regular strength training ...
African Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology Vol. 6(22), pp. 1598-1605, 15 June, 2012 Available online at http://www.academicjournals.org/AJPP DOI: 10.5897/AJPP12.246 ISSN 1996-0816 ©2012 Academic Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Non-medical anabolic-androgenic steroid consumption and hepatitis B and C virus infection in regular strength training practitioners Paulo Adriano Schwingel1,2*, Helma Pinchemel Cotrim1, Crimério Ribeiro dos Santos Junior1, Bernardo Cruz Rios Salles1, Carlos Eduardo Romeu de Almeida1 and Cláudio Cesar Zoppi3 1
Programa de Pós-graduação em Medicina e Saúde (PPgMS), Faculdade de Medicina da Bahia (FMB), Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. 2 Departamento de Nutrição, Universidade de Pernambuco (UPE), Petrolina, Pernambuco, Brazil. 3 Departamento de Anatomia, Biologia Celular e Fisiologia e Biofísica, Instituto de Biologia (IB), Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. Accepted 23 April, 2012
The aim of this study is to analyse the use of non-medical anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) among Brazilian regular strength training practitioners and evaluate the prevalence of hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among currently AAS injectors. The survey was addressed to 893 adult healthy males and regular strength-training practitioners from Northeast region of Brazil. Self-reported AAS users were additionally subjected to a physical exam, interview and blood sample collection, to analyse the presence of HBV and HCV. The results showed that punctual prevalence of AAS user was estimated in 16.5% (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 14.1 to 19.1). The doses of testosterone and/or its derivatives injected in the last cycle ranged from 200 to 7,200 mg, and AAS vials were purchased predominantly from the black-market. The prevalence of HBV was 0.7% (95% CI: 0.5 to 3.3) and HCV was 0.7% (95% CI: 0.5 to 3.3) without co-infection. Hepatitis infection was associated to elementary educational level (2/29; p
