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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Prevalence of doping in sports: doping control in Norway, 1977-1995.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the results from doping controls conducted by the Norwegian Confederation of Sport (NCS) from 1977 to 1995. METHODS: Data were collected by combining three computerized databases and manual records on samples taken and results from analyses in the International Olympic Committee (IOC)-accredited laboratories in London, Huddinge, Cologne, and Oslo. Samples were declared positive if they contained any banned substance on the IOC list that was in effect at any given time. RESULTS: A total of 15,208 samples were taken; most of them (12,870; 85%) were from Norwegian athletes (90% unannounced tests) belonging to national federations under NCS jurisdiction (NCS members), 461 (3%) were from external Norwegian athletes (either users of private gyms or athletes in organized sports federations not affiliated with the NCS), and 1,874 (12%) were from foreign athletes (three cases with unknown affiliation). There were 130 positive samples and 24 refusals among NCS members (1.2%; men, 1.4%; women, 0.3%), 86 positive samples and 8 refusals among external Norwegian athletes (20%; men, 24%; women, 8%), and 39 positive samples and 1 refusal among foreign athletes (1.6%; men, 2.1%; women, 0.7%). A gradual decrease in the percentage of positive samples was observed among NCS members as testing frequency was increased gradually from 1987 to 1995 in the three high-prevalence sports: powerlifting, weightlifting, and athletics. CONCLUSION: An increase in the test frequency of doping tests was associated with a decrease in the percentage of positive samples in targeted sports.

Adult↗

[Sport doping in times].

The employment of various substances drawn from three different kingdoms of Nature, to invigorate consumed, tired bodies has its origins in the most remote ages. As sport professionalism spreads, doping in sports developes in a gradual and progressive manner: it becomes a sequence of more or less illegal (or outlawed) practices aimed at increasing physical resistance and reaction speed, as well as to lessen the emotional effects of competition. These practices, which often are at dubious efficacy, are associated with the risk of collateral effects, some of which may be lethal. This complex problem, which at times deals with questions of an ethical, medical-legal and social nature, demands an urgent and informed adjustment (or modification) of the current laws that deal with this matter.

Doping in Sports↗

[Doping and sports].

Doping is widely known as the use of banned substances and practices by athletes in an attempt to improve sporting performances. The term doping likely derives from "dope", an ancient expression referred to a primitive alcoholic drink that was used as a stimulant in South African ceremonial dances; gradually, the term was extended and finally adopted his current significance. There are at least two essential reasons to support the fight against doping: the potential harmful effects on athletes and the depth corruption of the fair competition. An exhaustive list of banned substances and methods has been drawn by the International Olympic Committee and further accepted by other International Sport Authorities and Federations. This list, regularly updated, is basically divided into doping substances (stimulants, narcotic analgesics, anabolic agents, diuretics, peptide and glycoprotein hormones and analogues), doping methods (blood doping, pharmacological, chemical and physical manipulation) and drugs subjected to certain restrictions (alcohol, marijuana, local anesthetics, corticosteroids and beta-blockers). Although there might be some medical conditions, which could legitimate the need of these substances or methods, there is no place for their use in sport. Thus, an athlete's consume of any of these substances or methods will result in disqualification. Aim of the present review is to provide a synthetic description of both the desirable effects and the potentially harmful consequences of the use of some of the major doping substances and methods.

Adult↗

Sports doping in the adolescent athlete the hope, hype, and hyperbole.

A well-balanced diet with appropriate training is the key to maximizing athletic performance. Nutritional counseling should be an essential part of anticipatory guidance, especially for certain teens, such as those who are vegetarians or those with low-calorie intakes. Other considerations for anticipatory guidance are listed in Box 8. Adequate hydration before, during, and after practice or a game is important to maintain hemodynamic balance, prevent heat disorders, and optimize performance. Cool water is adequate for short-duration activities, while carbohydrate-electrolyte fluids are more desirable for long-term activities, especially those lasting more than an hour. Such drinks are also more palatable and the athlete is more likely to consume them. Carbohydrates (meaning hydrates of carbon) are an important part of the athlete's diet; carbohydrates are rapidly broken down and their energy is quickly supplied to the body. The body stores only a small amount of carbohydrates in the form of glycogen in the liver, while muscle glycogen is an immediate source of energy. Thus, carbohydrate loading has been used to increase glycogen stores and aid the athlete involved in endurance events.

Adolescent↗

[Doping in sports].

Doping consists in the use of artificial means or substances with the unique aim of improving performance despite adverse effects on health. Amphetamines stimulate the central nervous system by increasing motivation and vigilance. Often consumed in association with analgesics, they increase the fatigue threshold during prolonged or repeated exercise. Addiction and dependency to these substances are extremely rapid. Side-effects include insomnia, exhaustion, violence and can lead to serious heart diseases. By enhancing capacity for intensive training, anabolic steroids improve strength, alertness and speed. This action is often further strengthened by the use of growth hormones DHEA and IGF-1. Extremely high dosage is used and is in no way comparable with natural secretions or those necessary to re-balance an exhausted glandular system. During prolonged endurance exercise, doping aims at improving the circulation of oxygen in the blood and thus its availability to the muscles. Firstly, the blood haemoglobin concentration was increased by blood transfusions. At present the production of red blood cells is stimulated by repeated injections of exogenous erythropoietin. The extreme viscosity of the blood leads to a risk of vascular thromboses and high blood pressure and accentuates greatly and sometimes even fatally the possibility of brachycardia which is common with sportsmen.

Amphetamines↗

[Legal aspects of medicine and sports doping].

Classically, doping is envisaged in terms of the penal or disciplinary consequences it can entail for the sportsman or his (her) sport physician. In our Community, the sportsman who uses doping will in the future not be prosecuted. Another question remains: is a sportsman who was given doping substances by his physician and suffered from this treatment entitled to bring an action against the physician?

Doping in Sports↗

[Prevention of doping in sport in adolescents: evaluation of a health education based intervention].

BACKGROUND: The extent of sport doping and its potential risks for health is to be considered as a problem of public health. Until now, only a very few number of prevention programs have been shown to be efficient. The aim of this prospective study was to test the benefit of a specific educational intervention to reduce the intent of adolescent athletes to use drugs. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The participants were 476 adolescent athletes involved into high-level events, 238 were included in the experimental group and 238 as control group. The intervention was divided in four stages: information on epidemiology of doping in sport, discussions about nutritional supplement and other authorized products, a drug simulating role play, and information on self-medication. The program was evaluated by a self-administrated questionnaire before, just after the intervention, and three months later. RESULTS: A significant decrease in the intention to use doping drugs, and an increase in the perception of being able to refuse doping was found in the experimental group three months after the intervention. CONCLUSIONS: This work suggests that health education based interventions are effective in preventing drug use among adolescent athletes.

Adolescent↗

[Doctors belonging to the Senegalese Association of Sport Medicine and doping in sports: survey on knowledge and attitudes].

Doping in sports is as old as sports, but it grew considerably during the 20th century with the arrival in stadiums during the 1990s of amphetamines and anabolic steroids as well as such peptide hormones as erythropoietin. The international fight against doping took a giant step forward in 1999 with the creation of the world antidoping agency (WADA). This study is part of that fight. It follows an earlier survey of retail pharmacists in Senegal and aims to evaluate the knowledge about doping of doctors belonging to the Senegalese Association of Sports Medicine and to assess their attitude towards this phenomenon. Its goal is to determine how best to involve them in preventive actions. We conducted a survey in 2001 and randomly selected and interviewed 60 of the 92 doctors in the association. The questionnaire focused on three areas: their knowledge of doping, their attitudes to it, and the means of prevention that they proposed. The results showed that only 11 of the 60 doctors knew the definition of doping and 15% of doctors could not cite any family of doping products. They were aware mainly of testosterone and other anabolic steroids (84.3%), then amphetamines and other stimulants (64.7%), and finally peptide hormones (58.8%). The subjects mentioned blood doping and pharmacological manipulations as forbidden methods. They considered that the four groups of drugs most often used by athletes for doping were, in descending order, anabolic steroids, stimulants, peptide hormones and corticoids. Eighty per cent of doctors think that Senegalese athletes use doping products and that the sports most involved are football, wrestling, track and field and basketball. They also think that doping is a form of drug addiction and a public health problem. Eleven doctors (18%) said they had been contacted for information on use of doping products. The interviewees consider that the three best methods of prevention include information about side effects, unannounced urine and blood tests, and sanctions. This work shows that Senegalese athletes may use doping; it contains no direct proofs but many indirect indicators. Success against doping requires preventive activities that should be conducted jointly for trainers, sports federations and doctors of the Senegalese Association of Sports Medicine and then by all of them for athletes, who are the primary targets of any prevention campaign.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗

Doping control in sports medicine.

Doping control has become one of the strongest measures to reduce the impact of doping in sports. The rationale for doping control is based on the need to maintain both ethical and medical principles. Among the banned pharmacological substances, the most relevant to sports medicine are anabolic agents, stimulants, narcotic, peptide hormones, diuretics, masking agents, and adrenergic beta-blockers. Optimized use of state-of-the-art analytical methodology and suitable quality control mechanisms warrant reliability in the laboratory. Adequate interpretation of results requires knowledge of pharmacology, toxicology, drug metabolism, and pharmacokinetics. The detection and confirmation of doping using endogenous substances are especially difficult for urine testing. The alteration caused in indirect markers in other biological materials, such as blood, will be the focus of further developments in the field.

Doping in Sports↗

Gene doping in sports.

Gene or cell doping is defined by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) as "the non-therapeutic use of genes, genetic elements and/or cells that have the capacity to enhance athletic performance". New research in genetics and genomics will be used not only to diagnose and treat disease, but also to attempt to enhance human performance. In recent years, gene therapy has shown progress and positive results that have highlighted the potential misuse of this technology and the debate of 'gene doping'. Gene therapies developed for the treatment of diseases such as anaemia (the gene for erythropoietin), muscular dystrophy (the gene for insulin-like growth factor-1) and peripheral vascular diseases (the gene for vascular endothelial growth factor) are potential doping methods. With progress in gene technology, many other genes with this potential will be discovered. For this reason, it is important to develop timely legal regulations and to research the field of gene doping in order to develop methods of detection. To protect the health of athletes and to ensure equal competitive conditions, the International Olympic Committee, WADA and International Sports Federations have accepted performance-enhancing substances and methods as being doping, and have forbidden them. Nevertheless, the desire to win causes athletes to misuse these drugs and methods. This paper reviews the current status of gene doping and candidate performance enhancement genes, and also the use of gene therapy in sports medicine and ethics of genetic enhancement.

Doping in Sports↗

[Doping in sports].

The first organized doping controls were carried out in the 1970s. In 1993, the Czech Antidoping Charter was signed and the Antidoping Committee was established. The medical commission of International Olympic Committee decides, which substances and methods are prohibited. The current classification is as follows: I. prohibited classes of substances--stimulants, narcotics, anabolic agents, diuretics and some hormones. II. prohibited methods--blood doping and pharmaceutical, chemical or physical manipulation. III. classes of drugs subject to certain restrictions--alcohol, marijuana, local anesthetics, corticosteroids and beta blockers. All substances are characterized from the ergogenic viewpoint and health risks are particularly emphasized. In practice, doping control starts by drawing the athletes and ends by urine sample analysis in a special laboratory. In case of positive results, the sportsman is banned from sports activity for 3 months, 2 years or for the rest of his life. In 24 worldwide laboratories in 1995 93,938 urine samples were analyzed. 1516 (1.61%) proved to be positive, including 986 anabolic steroid use. In 1997, the Czech laboratory carried out 843 checks, of which 15 (1.7%) were positive. The largest positive doping group were body builders. Doping poses a major risk among junior sportsmen. Prevalence worldwide is estimated at 2-10% of the male population. In the future a severe antidoping attitude, as well as antidoping enlightenment, are certain to continue. By these standards the activity of the Czech Antidoping Committee is on a very high level.

Czech Republic↗

Epidemiologic approach of doping in sport. A review.

OBJECTIVE: To determine, the prevalence of doping in sport as it was reported by the athletes during surveys, and to try to isolate risk factors to resort to doping. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Medline, Pascal and Embase search for the period from 1980 to 1996. STUDY SELECTION: Of the 44 studies produced, 15 were not included in the detailed data summary because they reported statistical data from antidoping controls, they were not enough specific, or they concerned horse races. DATA EXTRACTION: Details of study design, drugs studied, prevalence. When available, were also noted: the sport practiced and the motives for doping. RESULTS: Among children, doping prevalence in around 3-5%. Among adults, in self-reported use studies, doping prevalence may be estimated at 5-15%, where projected use studies report a mean prevalence near 15-25%. Studies provide few data about the sports that produce drug users. CONCLUSIONS: The extent of sport doping and its potential risks for health must make it to be considered as a problem of public health. This means that physicians must, at last, consider it as any other problem and change their behaviour against doping, in order not to reduce the subject to the sole list of prohibited substances. As for sports federations, they must, as last, recognize that prevalence of doping is high. Lastly, new studies are essential to determine motives for doping and to institute the predictable factors for this practice, what will perhaps make efficient the prevention campaigns.

Adolescent↗

[Are newspapers a reliable source of information about doping in sports?].

To study the coverage by French newspapers of doping in sports, we performed a systematic review of articles appearing between January and March 2003 on the following French websites: L'Equipe, Le Monde, Le Figaro, Libération, La Dépêche du Midi and Agence France-Presse (AFP). We recorded a total of 58 articles about doping. Among them, 48 (83%) were collected from the AFP news. L'Equipe, a French sports newspaper, published seven articles (12%). Most of the recorded data reported results of worldwide antidoping control (71%). No information about new drugs was found. The analysis of the selected articles pointed out the following: (i) the seriousness of observations related to doping since, during this 3-month period, we noted two deaths of athletes; (ii) the risks associated with the use of dietary supplements, particularly products including amphetamine derivatives; (iii) the interest in judicial investigation as an information source about doping in sports (investigation of suspicious deaths of Italian football players); and (iv) identification of the sports involved in doping (cycling, but also athletics, football, rugby). Systematic analysis of newspaper reports can be considered as a relevant method for monitoring the pharmacovigilance and pharmacoepidemiology of doping in sports.

Doping in Sports↗

The possibilities of hair analysis in the determination of involuntary doping in sports.

Although not yet fully recognised by international sporting committees, hair analysis in doping control may be a useful adjunct to drug testing of urine. It may permit access to retrospective information and the identification of banned substances, especially when exogenous abuse has to be distinguished from other forms of involuntary exposure to identical substances. Negative hair results coupled with positive urine samples may be used to draw conclusions of involuntary doping in sports whenever athletes claim not to have ingested any drug, identical substances are present in their environment or are normal constituents of food and beverages served to them immediately before the competition. Two cases are well described in the literature in which hair analyses were fundamental in documenting positive doping after urinalysis. In Brazil, 2 cases of athletes testing positive for banned substances caught our attention because of the possibility of involuntary doping; hair analysis, if performed, may have helped to clarify the results of the urinalysis. Despite the fact that it cannot be used for routine control and overrule positive urinalysis, hair analysis can detect long term exposure as well as those substances which are not excreted in urine. In the current International Olympic Committee (IOC) code, hair analysis is not yet considered useful even in special cases of doping control.

Doping in Sports↗

An update on regulatory issues in antidoping programs in sport.

Doping control for national- and international-level athletes has undergone major changes in the past few years, and will continue to change at an accelerated rate. National antidoping organizations (NADOs) such as the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) are being established by major nations to work with national governing bodies of sport. The World Anti-Doping Agency has been established to coordinate worldwide antidoping efforts with the NADOs and international federations of sport, and to implement a recently drafted World Anti-Doping code, which clarifies the definition of doping and establishes procedures to harmonize international efforts in sample collection process, testing laboratory accreditation, result reporting, and result adjudication. A number of substances and methods currently used in doping present serious challenges to the scientific community, and are described briefly. In addition, brief descriptions of other issues of significance to doping control, including the role of physicians in doping and the operation of the USADA, are presented.

Creatine↗