Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Mar 10;120(10):155-161.
doi: 10.3238/arztebl.m2023.0003.

Analgesic Use in Sports

Dieter Leyk  1 , Thomas Rüther, Nadine Hartmann, Emanuel Vits, Markus Staudt, Manuela Andrea Hoffmann
Affiliations

Analgesic Use in Sports

Dieter Leyk et al. Dtsch Arztebl Int. .

Abstract

Background: Consumption of medication to alleviate pain is widespread in Germany. Around 1.9 million men and women take analgesics every day; some 1.6 million persons are addicted to painkillers. Analgesic use is thought also to be common in sports, even in the absence of pain. The aim of this study was to assess the extent of painkiller use among athletes.

Methods: In line with the PRISMA criteria and the modified PICO(S) criteria, a systematic literature review was registered (Openscienceframework, https://doi. org/10.17605/OSF.IO/VQ94D) and carried out in PubMed and SURF. The publications identified (25 survey studies, 12 analyses of doping control forms, 18 reviews) were evaluated in standardized manner using the Newcastle Ottawa Scale (NOS) and AMSTAR (A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews).

Results: Analgesic use is widespread in elite sports. The prevalence varies between 2.8% (professional tennis) and 54.2% (professional soccer). Pain medication is also taken prophylactically in the absence of symptoms in some non-elite competitive sports. In the heterogeneous field of amateur sports the data are sparse and there is no reliable evidence of wide-reaching consumption of painkillers. Among endurance athletes, 2.1% of over 50 000 persons stated that they used analgesics at least once each month in connection with sports.

Conclusion: Analgesic use has become a problem in many areas of professional/ competitive sports, while the consumption of pain medication apparently remains rare in amateur sports. In view of the increasing harmful use of or even addiction to painkillers in society as a whole, there is a need for better education and, above all, restrictions on advertising.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure
Figure
PRISMA flow chart of the literature review: PRISMA, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses; SURF, sport information portal of the German Federal Institute of Sport Science
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

  • Menstrual Cramps as a Reason.
    Gnutzmann S. Gnutzmann S. Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2023 Sep 15;120(37):615. doi: 10.3238/arztebl.m2023.0165. Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2023. PMID: 37811847 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

References

    1. Atzendorf J, Rauschert C, Seitz N-N, Lochbühler K, Kraus L. The use of alcohol, tobacco, illegal drugs and medicines: an estimate of consumption and substance-related disorders in Germany. Dtsch Arztebl. 2019;116:577–584. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte (BfArM) International classification of diseases for mortality and morbidity statistics (ICD-11 MMS) Entwurfsfassung: ICD-11 MMS. 2022
    1. Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Wissenschaftlichen Medizinischen Fachgesellschaften e. V. (AWMF) S3-Leitlinie Medikamentenbezogene Störungen (AWMF-Register-Nr.: 038-025) www.awmf.org/uploads/tx_szleitlinien/038-025l_S3_Medikamtenbezogene-Stoe... (last accessed on 21 April 2022)
    1. Robert Koch-Institut. Robert Koch-Institut. Berlin: 2015. Anwendung rezeptfreier Analgetika in Deutschland. Eine Befragungsstudie zum Anwendungsverhalten, zur Kenntnis von Anwendungsinformationen und Bewertung eines möglichen Packungsaufdrucks in der erwachsenen Allgemeinbevölkerung.
    1. Heinz A, Liu S. Addiction to legal drugs and medicines in Germany. Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2019;116:575–576. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types