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Body image and eating disorders are common in professional and amateur athletes using performance and image-enhancing drugs (pieds). A cross-sectional study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2020

D. Piacentino ,
L. Longo ,
A. Pavan ,
S. Ferracuti ,
R. Brugnoli ,
P. Girardi  and
G. Sani
D. Piacentino*
Affiliation:
Sapienza, University of Rome, NESMOS Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs Department, Rome, Italy
L. Longo
Affiliation:
Sapienza, University of Rome, NESMOS Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs Department, Rome, Italy
A. Pavan
Affiliation:
Sapienza, University of Rome, Immunohematology and Transfusion Medicine, Rome, Italy
S. Ferracuti
Affiliation:
Sapienza, University of Rome, NESMOS Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs Department, Rome, Italy
R. Brugnoli
Affiliation:
Sapienza, University of Rome, NESMOS Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs Department, Rome, Italy
P. Girardi
Affiliation:
Sapienza, University of Rome, NESMOS Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs Department, Rome, Italy
G. Sani
Affiliation:
Sapienza, University of Rome, NESMOS Neuroscience, Mental Health, and Sensory Organs Department, Rome, Italy
*
* Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

The use of Performance and Image-Enhancing Drugs (PIEDs) is on the increase and appears to be associated with several psychopathological disorders, whose prevalence in unclear.

Objectives/Aims

We aimed to evaluate the differences–if any–in the prevalence of body image disorders (BIDs) and eating disorders (EDs) in PIEDs users athletes vs. PIEDs nonusers ones.

Methods

We enrolled 84 consecutive professional and amateur athletes (35.8% females; age range = 18–50), training in several sports centers in Italy. They underwent structured interviews (SCID I/SCID II) and completed the Body Image Concern Inventory (BICI) and the Sick, Control, One, Fat, Food Eating Disorder Screening Test (SCOFF). Mann-Whitney U test and Fisher's exact test were used for comparisons.

Results

Of the 84 athletes, 18 (21.4%) used PIEDs. The most common PIEDs were anabolic androgenic steroids, amphetamine-like substances, cathinones, ephedrine, and caffeine derivatives (e.g. guarana). The two groups did not differ in socio-demographic characteristics, but differed in anamnestic and psychopathological ones, with PIEDs users athletes being characterized by significantly (P-values < 0.05) higher physical activity levels, consuming more coffee, cigarettes, and psychotropic medications (e.g. benzodiazepines) per day, presenting more SCID diagnoses of psychiatric disorders, especially Substance Use Disorders, Eating Disorders, Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), and General Anxiety Disorders, showing higher BICI scores, which indicate a higher risk of BDD, and higher SCOFF scores, which suggest a higher risk of BIDs and EDs.

Conclusions

In PIEDs users athletes body image and eating disorders, and more in general psychopathological disorders, are more common than in PIEDs nonusers athletes.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Type
EW130
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 33 , Issue S1: Abstracts of the 24th European Congress of Psychiatry , March 2016 , pp. S144
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 2016
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