The lifetime prevalence of anabolic-androgenic steroid use and dependence in Americans: current best estimates.

ABSTRACT:

Background and objectives

Although various surveys have tracked the prevalence of anabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) use in American teenagers and young adults, no recent surveys have assessed the lifetime prevalence of AAS use in Americans overall. We therefore analyzed serial youth-survey data to derive estimates of the lifetime prevalence of AAS use in the current American general population.

Methods

We first determined the distribution of age of onset of AAS use, based on pooled data from nine studies. Using this distribution, we then developed equations to project the eventual lifetime prevalence of AAS use among young survey respondents, once they aged and completed the period of risk for initiating AAS. We similarly calculated the denominator of lifetimes of risk for A

SUBMITTER: Pope HG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3961570 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul-Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature