Athletes' perceptions toward substance use in Baghdad city

The majority of men's sports need high levels of strength and power. The effects of any given type of performance-enhancing substance are mostly directly related to its ergogenic effects (enhanced strength, higher energy production, and better recovery), anabolic potential (increased protein synthesis, especially in muscles), and/or stimulating properties (increased attention and loss of fear), which give a competitive advantage to athletes. A descriptive correlational study was conducted to identify bodybuilders' and athletes' perception toward substance use and to identify the relationship between substance use and those athletes' sociodemographic characteristics of age, level of education, social status, and monthly income. A purposive "nonprobability" sample of 172 bodybuilding athletes were recruited from gym users of Baghdad city. The study found that two fifths of those who used anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) were 19 years old or younger, less than one half were overweight (body mass index = 25-29.9), two fifths of participants enjoyed exercise/training to an extreme level, two fifths of study participants highly perceived the improvement of athletic performance, two fifths of the study participants highly perceived the importance of improving athletic performance, less than half of the study participants used AAS, one quarter of the study participants who used AAS had been influenced by their coaches to use such substances, and more than one third of the study participants who used AAS were using such substances in the form of oral tablets and intramuscular injection together.