A growing literature suggests that anabolic-androgenic steroids, drugs which promote gains in muscle mass and loss of body fat, are widely abused by Americans. Many studies have shown that in men, steroids can lead to both medical and psychiatric morbidity. For example, a recent study from this laboratory, comparing 88 steroid-using men with 68 matched controls, found a markedly increased prevalence of major mood syndromes in association with both steroid use and steroid withdrawal. However, very few studies have examined the nature and effects of steroid use in women, despite evidence that more than 100,000 American women have abused these drugs. The study proposed in this application seeks to duplicate in women the investigators' previous design, used in the study of men described above. In the proposed study, 30 steroid-using women and 30 non-using women will be recruited from gymnasiums in two metropolitan areas, using a recruitment process designed to minimize selection bias. Subjects will be interviewed, using an instrument refined from the investigators' pilot study, and will submit urine to be tested for both steroids and other drugs. They will also receive a physical examination, including caliper determinations of body fat, and have blood drawn for standard chemistry and hematology measures. Users and non-users will be compared on basic demographic variables, medical history, physical and laboratory findings, and incidence of psychiatric symptoms and syndromes during and in the absence of steroid exposure. Although the proposed study is naturalistic, and relies on retrospective reports by subjects, this method represents the only design capable of assessing the nature and effects of steroid abuse in women, since it is not ethically reasonable to examine these effects in the laboratory.
| Gruber, A J; Pope Jr, H G (2000) Psychiatric and medical effects of anabolic-androgenic steroid use in women. Psychother Psychosom 69:19-26 |
| Wines Jr, J D; Gruber, A J; Pope Jr, H G et al. (1999) Nalbuphine hydrochloride dependence in anabolic steroid users. Am J Addict 8:161-4 |
| Gruber, A J; Pope Jr, H G (1999) Compulsive weight lifting and anabolic drug abuse among women rape victims. Compr Psychiatry 40:273-7 |
| Pope Jr, H G; Olivardia, R; Gruber, A et al. (1999) Evolving ideals of male body image as seen through action toys. Int J Eat Disord 26:65-72 |
| Gruber, A J; Pope Jr, H G (1998) Ephedrine abuse among 36 female weightlifters. Am J Addict 7:256-61 |
| Pope Jr, H G; Gruber, A J; Choi, P et al. (1997) Muscle dysmorphia. An underrecognized form of body dysmorphic disorder. Psychosomatics 38:548-57 |
