Large variations in analgesic consumption patterns in youth elite athletes: a 28-week prospective cohort study

In this prospective cohort study, we aimed to identify different analgesic consumption patterns among 690 youth elite athletes and 505 students (15-20 years). Group-based trajectory modeling identified distinct consumption patterns and mixed-effects Poisson regression estimated relative risks of analgesic use between groups based on weekly reports of analgesic use over 28 weeks. Four patterns emerged: minimal/non-users (48% athletes/53% students), occasional users (31%/33%), frequent users (19%/11%), and persistent users (2.5%/3.2%), and relative risks of use increased with higher trajectory groups. These findings indicate that while most youth report minimal use, a subset engage in frequent or persistent analgesic use.