The Most Common Misusage of Prohibited Drugs in Athletes

Abstract

This study was aimed to understand the use of medication among elite athletes in Taiwan. For this investigation, we surveyed 180 athletes, who were selected for doping control at National Athletic Games in Taiwan. The athletes were asked to declare their use of medicine (either western or Chinese medicine) 14 days prior to the games. The types of western medicine included: analgesics, gastrointestinal agents, cough and cold preparations, contraceptives, muscle relaxants and antibiotics. The types of Chinese medicine included: hurt agents, liver agents, and some other unknown. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics and chi-square test. The results indicated that 31.7% of the athletes used medication. Nevertheless, no significant difference was found between the consumption of Chinese medicine (11.7%) and western medicine (21.7%). The usage rate of medication showed no differences between genders, and among types of sports. Analgesics and hurt agents were most frequently used in western and Chinese medicine, respectively. Weight lifters and body-building athletes used gastrointestinal agents and muscle relaxants significantly more than other athletes. Positive results of pseudoephedrine were found in five athletes. In conclusion, the result demonstrates that drug misusage is still occurrence in Taiwan athletes. The usage rate of medication in this study was lower than previous surveys (47.2-57.9%). This study suggests that athletes must be careful about the utilization of pseudoephedrine.