Abuse of Anabolic Steroids

Abstract

Anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are synthetic derivatives of the natural male hormone testosterone. AAS are used as therapeutic purposes in the treatment of male hypogonadism, delayed puberty, suppression of lactation, postmenopausal libidinal loss, aplastic anemia, in cases of malnutrition and high catabolism and hereditary angioedema. On the other hand, AAS have been used illegally and unrestrainedly for decades by professional athletes to enhance performance, and especially by young men who want to have a more muscular appearance. Various studies from different countries showed the lifelong prevalence of AAS misuse in young men around 3-12%. There are many physical and psychological, acute or chronic side effects in patients due to the unrestrained AAS use. Further research is needed in this field because of the increase trend of AAS abuse in recent years. In this paper we aimed to review the research papers on AAS which has been not recognized yet sufficiently by clinicians.

Keywords

• anabolic steroid
• abuse
• dependence
• prevalence

Anabolik Steroidlerin Kötüye Kullanımı

Abstract

Anabolik androjenik steroidler (AAS), doğal erkeklik hormonu olan testosteronun sentetik türevleridir. Tıbbi amaçlı olarak erkek hipogonadizmi, gecikmiş puberte, laktasyon baskılanması, postmenapozal libido kaybı, aplastik anemiler, katabolizmanın yüksek olduğu durumlarda ve herediter anjio ödem tedavilerinde kullanılmaktadır. Öte yandan AAS’ler yıllardır profesyonel sporcular tarafından performans arttırmak amacıyla ya da daha kaslı bir vücut görünümüne sahip olmak isteyen özellikle genç erkekler tarafından kontrolsüzce ve yasadışı olarak kullanılmaktadır. Çeşitli ülkelerde yapılan çalışmalarda bu amaçlarla AAS kullanımının genç erkeklerdeki yaşam boyu yaygınlığı %3-12 arasında değişen oranlarda saptanmıştır. AAS’lerin kontrolsüzce kullanımının akut ya da kronik olarak, bedensel ve ruhsal pek çok yan etkisi bulunmaktadır. AAS kullanım bozukluğunun son yıllarda artmaya devam etmesi nedeniyle bu konuda daha fazla araştırma yapılmasına gereksinim duyulmaktadır. Bu yazıda, kullanımı yaygınlaşmakta olan ve klinisyenler tarafından henüz iyi tanınmadığı düşünülen AAS’ler ile ilgili araştırmaları gözden geçirmeyi amaçladık.

Keywords

• anabolik steroid
• kötüye kullanım
• bağımlılık
• yaygınlık

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