Short QT Interval: A Novel Predictor of Androgen Abuse in Strength Trained Athletes

Abstract

To the best of our knowledge, there is no published report regarding electrocardiographic diagnosis and screening of AAS abusing athletes. In the present study, we present an easy and applicable method to screen and diagnose AAS abusing among professional bodybuilders. In the presence of QTc interval < or = 380 ms in a bodybuilder, one would predict AAS abusing with 83% sensitivity and 88% specificity.

Abnormal cardiac repolarization in anabolic androgenic steroid users carrying out submaximal exercise testing

“…The present results are in contrast to the study by Chung et al 23 that has found no effect of AAS on QTc interval and those of Stolt et al 21 and Bigi et al, 22 which found that athletes who were AAS users had significantly shorter QT intervals than AAS-free athletes. Bigi et al 22 examined only the QTc interval duration in 165 male professional bodybuilders and they found that those who subjected themselves to AAS abuse had a shorter QTc interval than AAS-free bodybuilders and healthy sedentary men.…”

“…Bigi et al 22 examined only the QTc interval duration in 165 male professional bodybuilders and they found that those who subjected themselves to AAS abuse had a shorter QTc interval than AAS-free bodybuilders and healthy sedentary men. Stolt et al,21 in contrast, evaluated 30 AAS-free endurance athletes, 15 power athletes who were AAS users and 15 AAS-free sedentary men, and found that endurance athletes with physiological adaptive left ventricular hypertrophy had prolonged QT duration, but their QT dispersion was similar to that of sedentary men.…”

“…Bigi et al 22 hypothesized that the androgen-induced QT interval shortening could be mediated by the potassium current I K1 , because experimental studies in androgen-treated castrated animals reported an increase in I K1 current 27 and Kir2.1 protein expression. 28 Liu et al 27 also reported an increase in I Kr current, but without any change in the ether-a-go-go-related gene RNA, suggesting a possible non-genomic effect of androgen.…”

“…20 Despite the known adverse cardiovascular effects of high-doses of AAS, few studies have used QT parameters to assess cardiovascular risk associated with AAS abuse. Some of them have reported short QT intervals, 21,22 whereas Chung et al 23 have found no change in the QTc interval of AAS users. Thus, because such issues have not been clarified, the present study was designed to evaluate the QT interval and dispersion during recovery from submaximal exercise in subjects using AAS.…”

The Effect of Chronic Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Use on Tp-E Interval, Tp-E/Qt Ratio, and Tp-E/Qtc Ratio in Male Bodybuilders

“…However, in these studies, only QTd and cQTd were used to access homogeneity of cardiac repolarization, and no information about the relation between transmural dispersion of repolarization and long-term AAS using athletes. 40,41 Transmural dispersion of repolarization, calculated as the interval between the peak and the end of T wave on electrocardiogram, has been related to ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. 18,19,35 Recent studies indicated that Tp-e interval, Tp-e/QT ratio, and Tp-e/cQT ratio can be used as an index of total (transmural, apicobasal, and global) dispersion of repolarization.…”