Prevalence Estimate of Blood Doping in Elite Track and Field Athletes During Two Major International Events.

Raphael Faiss,Jonas Saugy,Martial Saugy,Alix Zollinger,Neil Robinson,Pierre-Yves Garnier,Frederic Schuetz

doi:10.3389/fphys.2020.00160

Abstract

In elite sport, the Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) was invented to tackle cheaters by monitoring closely changes in biological parameters, flagging atypical variations. The hematological module of the ABP was indeed adopted in 2011 by World Athletics (WA). This study estimates the prevalence of blood doping based on hematological parameters in a large cohort of track and field athletes measured at two international major events (2011 and 2013 WA World Championships) with a hypothesized decrease in prevalence due to the ABP introduction. A total of 3683 blood samples were collected and analyzed from all participating athletes originating from 209 countries. The estimate of doping prevalence was obtained by using a Bayesian network with seven variables, as well as “blood doping” as a variable mimicking doping with low-doses of recombinant human erythropoietin (rhEPO), to generate reference cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) for the Abnormal Blood Profile Score (ABPS) from the ABP. Our results from robust hematological parameters indicate an estimation of an overall blood doping prevalence of 18% in 2011 and 15% in 2013 (non-significant difference) in average in endurance athletes [95% Confidence Interval (CI) 14–22 and 12–19% for 2011 and 2013, respectively]. A higher prevalence was observed in female athletes (22%, CI 16–28%) than in male athletes (15%, CI 9–20%) in 2011. In conclusion, this study presents the first comparison of blood doping prevalence in elite athletes based on biological measurements from major international events that may help scientists and experts to use the ABP in a more efficient and deterrent way.

Highlights

The true prevalence of doping among athletes competing at the highest level remains virtually unknown while few attempts to address this point exist (Scarpino et al, 1990; Thevis et al, 2008; Striegel et al, 2010; Sottas et al, 2011a; Ulrich et al, 2018)
All samples and blood tests were conducted in accordance with the ethics code of conduct of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the study was approved by WADA’s Ethical Committee as regulator of any sample collected in an antidoping context
This study presents for the first time a comparison of the prevalence of doping based on blood samples analyzed in all athletes competing in two top-level athletic held in 2011 and 2013

Summary

Introduction

The true prevalence of doping among athletes competing at the highest level remains virtually unknown while few attempts to address this point exist (Scarpino et al, 1990; Thevis et al, 2008; Striegel et al, 2010; Sottas et al, 2011a; Ulrich et al, 2018). Official adverse or atypical results occur in less than 2% of the tests performed in laboratories accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) (WADA, 2018). Such statistic is flawed and does not allow an estimate of the prevalence of doping in athletes for at least two reasons. Notwithstanding the surprisingly big values, these results shall first underline the large variability and heterogeneity in the determination of doping prevalence with a questionable significance

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Conclusion