The use of anabolic-androgenic steroids in sport and the preventive role of the pharmacist

Abstract

The use of chemical substances to enhance physical activity is not a contemporary phenomenon; it goes back thousands of years. However, it has increased to alarming proportions in the last four decades and has created a serious problem in the world of sport, spreading many ramifications (Donohoe and Johnson, 1986). A broad array of pharmacological agents are employed to enhance athletic performance (i.e. doping). The most notorious of these drugs have been anabolic-androgenic steroids (AS). Abuse of AS by athletes constitutes just one aspect of doping of athletes (Wilson, 1988). AS are a group of synthetic steroid compounds that are structurally related to the natural male sex hormone testosterone (Murad and Haynes, 1985). Testosterone was isolated in 1935 and its metabolic effects elucidated shortly after. In 1939, Boje suggested that the use of male sex hormones might enhance athletic performance (Yesalis, et al. 1989).