Background: Young people strive to achieve optimum body condition in an easy manner using dietary or anabolic steroids supplements without proper knowledge of their adverse effects. Aim: To determine prevalence and factors associated with Androgenic Anabolic Steroids (AAS) use. Methods: A cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire was conducted at six gyms in Benha and Shebin al-kom cities. The total participants were 200. Results: The mean age of the studied population was 23.09 ± 5.13 years. Out of 200 participants, 114 (57%) used anabolic bodybuilding supplements. Seventy eight out of 114 used nutrient supplements, 14 used AAS and 22 used both nutrients and AAS. There was a significant difference between AAS users and nonusers regarding age (19.22 ± 1.93vs.23.88 ± 4.90 respectively; p = .000), income (100 % of AAS users had enough or more than enough income vs.84.6 % of nonusers; p= .000) . They also significantly differed considering the aim of practice (83.3% of AAS users aimed at bodybuilding vs. 64.1% of nonusers; p = .037). Finally, 30.6% of steroids users were not aware of any side effects of these preparations. Conclusion: The prevalence of AAS use either alone or in combination with nutrient supplements represented18% of the study group and 31.6% of total anabolic supplements users, one third of them were not aware of the possible side effects. Young age and high income significantly associated with AAS use.
Key words: AAS , Body building , Supplements , Gyms |
