Strongest Data Yet on Death in Athletes Who Use Anabolic Steroids
Wow. Just. Wow.
What’s the Claim?
A robust national database study in JAMA comparing athletes who received a doping sanction for anabolic steroid use to randomly assigned individuals from the general population found that individuals who had been sanctioned for anabolic steroid use had a substantially increased risk of death during the 11-year follow-up period compared to those who had not (hazard ratio 2.8, 95% CI 2 to 4). Risk of both “unnatural death” (accidents, violent crime, and suicide) as well as death from natural causes both were substantially elevated among those who’d taken anabolic steroids compared to those who had not (hazard ratios of 3.6 and 2.2, respectively).
