Medication Use in Athletes Selected for Doping Control at the Sydney Olympics (2000)

Abstract

In their Post-Games Report, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) acting as independent observers of the anti-doping process recommended to the IOC that the information obtained in the Athlete Declaration Forms concerning medications be collated with a view to assessing their use by athletes. The trends in their use seen in this survey point to an overuse of supplements as well as a dangerous overuse of drugs such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents together with multiple drug use emphasising the dangers of drug interactions and points out the increased prevalence of asthma in this population.

Preventive Health Perspective in Sports Medicine: The Trend at the Use of Medications and Nutritional Supplements during 5 Years Period between 2003 and 2008 in Football

“…Respiratory system medications were rarely prescribed in international football as seen in previous studies (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13).…”

“…Study conducted on the World Cups 2002 and 2006 reported a high intake of medication in international football, average drug consumption found was 1.8 substances/player/match (42.9% of which were medicinal and 57.1% were nutritional supplements) during these two tournaments (8). About other sports, a study of athletes participating in the Olympic Games 2000 in Sydney found that 80% of athletes declared using some sort of medication (13). A mean intake of 4.6 dietary supplements per player, prescribed medications and over-the-counter substances were reported for Canadian athletes (14).…”

“…A mean intake of 4.6 dietary supplements per player, prescribed medications and over-the-counter substances were reported for Canadian athletes (14). Recently published data on medication use in professional footballers indicate a high intake of both supplements 7 and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15).…”

“…Some previous studies have analysed the use of prescription medicines in different areas of sports, such as; in athletes during the Olympic Games (OG), in National Olympic squads participating in winter and summer sports and in professional soccer players in England and in Italy during one season (6,7,13,16). The present study differs from all of the previous studies in this field about the use of permitted drugs with the duration, data were collected prior to every match during 5 years (4 football seasons).…”

Medication use by Team South Africa during the XXVIIIth Olympiad: A model for quantity estimation for multi-coded team events

“…The true consumption of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents during this event was however somewhat underestimated in this calculation, as it does not take into account flurbiprofen patches and other transdermal anti-inflammatories dispensed by the physiotherapists, or self-medication by the athletes using their own medication supplies. 14 It is thus apparent that double or tripledosing of these agents regularly occurs and as these agents are not without side-effects, 3,6,9 it is important that good communication exists between the physicians and physiotherapist with respect to dispensing of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents, and that the athletes are educated with respect to judicious use of these medications. 13 It is therefore suggested that dispensing of all medications is conducted by the team physicians only.…”