Short ReportAttitudes towards use of anabolic–androgenic steroids among Ghanaian high school students
Introduction
The preponderance of nonmedical anabolic–androgenic steroid (AAS) use research is limited to Western continents although there is emerging evidence of AAS use in non-Western continents (Sagoe, Molde, Andreassen, Torsheim, & Pallesen, 2014a). However, to our knowledge, there has never been an investigation of AAS use among high school students/adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa although studies indicate AAS use is an emerging problem in this region (Ouédraogo et al., 2011, Sagoe et al., 2014a). In combating the problem of AAS use, trends in the prevalence and attitudes towards AAS use need to be monitored worldwide (Sagoe et al., 2014a). The present study is the first to explore AAS use in sub-Saharan African, precisely Ghanaian, adolescents and high school students. Specifically, this study investigated: (a) the prevalence of AAS use, (b) attitudes towards AAS use among males and females, (c) attitudes towards AAS use among athletes, recreational sportspeople, and nonathletes, (d) attitudes towards AAS use among participants of various sporting disciplines, and (e) the correlates of attitudes towards AAS use.
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Participants
Ghana has a total of ten regions. Central Region has seventeen ‘districts’ and two were selected for the study: Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly and Komenda Edina Eguafo Abrem Municipal Assembly. The two ‘districts’ have seventeen senior high schools and five of them were randomly selected for recruitment. We first contacted 2683 students in the five senior high schools. Of the 2683 students contacted, 2597 (1146 male and 1412 female) participated in a survey yielding a response rate of 96.8%.
Prevalence of AAS use
The lifetime prevalence was 3.8% (95% CI = 3.42–4.18). The prevalence for males was 4.9% (95% CI = 0.56–9.24), and 3.1% (95% CI = 2.0–6.6) for females. In addition, 18.5% (95% CI = 10.07–26.93%) reported personally knowing (a) user(s) of AAS while 6.0% (95% CI = 2.43–8.73%) of the sample had been offered AAS at least once. Prevalence of use for athletes was 4.6% (95% CI = 0.40–8.80). Recreational sportspeople and nonathletes had the same prevalence of use: [recreational sportspeople: 3.0% (95% CI =
Discussion
The overall and gender-specific prevalence rates of AAS use in this study are comparable to estimates reported in similar studies from America, Australia, Brazil, and South Africa (Sagoe et al., 2014a). Our finding that prevalence of use as well as intent to use AAS for the improvement of sports performance and physique is significantly higher among males corroborates the established position in the field (Sagoe et al., 2014a). Similarly, female gender was significantly related to a negative
Funding
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Conflict of interest
There is no conflict of interest.
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