Tendency to Consume Anabolic Steroids and Body-Building Supplements in the General Population: An Ecological Study

Background: Anabolic steroids and bodybuilding supplements are products that are readily available in the market and are increasingly being used by young people and athletes. This trend has become a social issue worldwide. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to examine and determine the changes in the prevalence and trends of anabolic steroid usage in Iran. Methods: This ecological study utilized the Google Trends database as its primary source. Initially, we searched for specific keywords related to anabolic steroids (AS) , Body-building supplements (BBS) , and COVID-19 among all searches conducted using GTs from January 2017 to December 2022. Subsequently, Spearman s correlation coefficient was employed to assess the association between the keywords AS and BBS with the term COVID-19 during various years. Results: The preference for consuming protein (58.19 ± 15.24) was highest among BBS, while recovery (12.14 ± 17.09) was the lowest. In the case of AS, the highest search frequency was related to Testosterone (56.64 ± 9.57), while the lowest was related to Primobolan (13.72 ± 8.21). In early 2020, we observed a significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the inclination to use BBS and AS, leading to a substantial decrease in willingness to use. However, we did not observe a statistically significant correlation between keyword searches for COVID-19 and AS BBS. Conclusions: The trend of AS and BBS usage in Iran is on the rise. The indiscriminate use of supplements is a cause for concern and calls for educational interventions.