Study Notes on Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDS)

Definition and Importance: Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDS) refer to substances that athletes use to improve their physical performance. Understanding PEDS is crucial for discussing ethics in sports, athlete health, and fairness in competition.

Key Questions:
- What sports have high usage of PEDs?
- Why are PEDs prevalent in these sports?

Statistics on Violations:
- Basketball: 39 violations
- Wrestling: 57 violations
- Boxing: 66 violations
- Rugby Union: 80 violations
- Football: 108 violations
- Powerlifting: 110 violations
- Cycling: 200 violations
- Weightlifting: 239 violations
- Athletics: 242 violations
- Bodybuilding: 270 violations
- Other: 490 violations

Nature and Use:
- Synthetic forms of testosterone used for:
- Clinical purposes: treating testosterone deficiency.
- Sports purposes: gaining muscle mass.
- Aesthetic purposes outside of sports.
Side Effects:
- Can disrupt hormone balance leading to significant health issues.
- Major problems: liver and cardiovascular complications.
Mitigation Techniques:
- Athletes often cycle on and off the usage of steroids to manage side effects.
- Additional drugs may be employed to prevent adverse effects.

Clinical Uses:
- Treatment for growth hormone deficiency, short stature, muscle wasting (e.g., due to AIDS), Turner syndrome, Prader-Willi syndrome.
Sport Use:
- Improves cardiorespiratory fitness, increases muscle mass, reduces fat mass, accelerates injury recovery.
Dangers of Use:
- Many athletes face scrutiny for using hGH to recover from injuries.
Off-Label Use:
- Commonly employed for anti-aging treatments outside sports.
Side Effects:
- Fluid retention/swelling, abnormal bone growth (affecting hands, feet, face, jaw), enlarged organs.
- Long-term use shows similar effects to short-term high uses.
- Example: Observations from the Santa Monica track club, where 7 out of 9 top sprinters had dental braces, indicating potential hGH use effects.

Oral vs. Injected:
- Testosterone and hGH are classified as hormones, which are proteins.
- Proteins are broken down into amino acids in the digestive system before absorption.
- To be effective, hormones must be directly injected rather than orally consumed.

Usage:
- Enhance energy levels and concentration.
- Often employed to reduce body weight in weight-classed sports.
Side Effects:
- Can cause central nervous system and cardiovascular issues.

Primary Use:
- Commonly used in endurance sports to:
- Increase red blood cell production.
- Improve oxygen delivery to muscles.
Blood Doping:
- EPO is a form of blood doping, providing effects similar to those of direct blood transfusions.

Function:
- Various drugs are employed to obscure the usage of banned substances.
- Generally, these drugs do not serve other therapeutic purposes.
Application:
- Diuretics can be used to flush banned substances out of the athlete's system during testing.
- Masking agents are frequently implicated in positive doping tests.

Blood Transfusions:
- Functionally similar to EPO usage, where blood is removed, concentrated (via centrifuge), and later reintroduced, thereby elevating red blood cell concentration.
IV Infusions:
- Often utilized in sports with weight categories (e.g., boxing, UFC, wrestling) to facilitate rapid weight recovery.
- Recently banned in UFC - indicating regulatory efforts in anti-doping.

Purpose:
- A class of drugs aimed at managing abnormal heart rhythms.
- Prevent spikes in heart rate during competitions.
Regulatory Status:
- Prohibited in certain competitions, particularly in precision and technical sports (e.g., NCAA rifle competitions).
- Distinction made between in-competition and out-of-competition usage, to minimize unfair advantage.