Androgens

Abstract

Androgen abuse is the most potent and prevalent form of sports doping detected. It originated from the early years of the Cold War as an epidemic confined to drug cheating within elite power sports. In the decades following the end of the Cold War, it has become disseminated into an endemic based within the illicit drug subcultures serving recreational abusers seeking cosmetic body sculpting effects. Within sports, both direct androgen abuse (administration of androgens), as well as indirect androgen abuse (administration of nonandrogenic drugs to increase endogenous testosterone), is mostly readily detectable with mass spectrometry-based anti-doping urine tests. The ongoing temptation of fame and fortune and the effectiveness of androgen abuse in power sports continue to entice cheating via renewed approaches aiming to exploit androgens. These require ongoing vigilance, inventiveness in anti-doping science, and targeting coaches as well as athletes in order to build resilience against doping and maintain fairness in elite sport. The challenge of androgen abuse in the community among recreational abusers has barely been recognized and effective approaches remain to be developed.