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In this Article

• How Are Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids Abused?
• How Do AAS Affect the Brain?
• AAS and Mental Health
• Addictive Potential
• What Other Adverse Effects Do AAS Have on Health?
• What Treatment Options Exist?
• How Widespread Is AAS Abuse?

What Other Adverse Effects Do AAS Have on Health?

Steroid abuse can lead to serious, even irreversible health problems. Some of the most dangerous among these include liver damage; jaundice (yellowish pigmentation of skin, tissues, and body fluids); fluid retention; high blood pressure; increases in LDL (“bad” cholesterol); and decreases in HDL (“good” cholesterol). Other reported effects include renal failure, severe acne, and trembling. In addition, there are some gender- and age-specific adverse effects:

• For men—shrinking of the testicles, reduced sperm count, infertility, baldness, development of breasts, increased risk for prostate cancer
• For women—growth of facial hair, male-pattern baldness, changes in or cessation of the menstrual cycle, enlargement of the clitoris, deepened voice
• For adolescents—stunted growth due to premature skeletal maturation and accelerated puberty changes; risk of not reaching expected height if AAS is taken before the typical adolescent growth spurt

In addition, people who inject AAS run the added risk of contracting or transmitting HIV/AIDS or hepatitis, which causes serious damage to the liver.

SOURCES:

CDC

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Arnedo MT, Salvador A, Martinez-Sanchis S, Gonzalez-Bono E. Rewarding properties of testosterone in intact male mice: A pilot study. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 65:327–332, 2000.

DiMeo AN, Wood RI. Self-administration of estrogen and dihydrotestosterone in male hamsters. Horm Behav 49(4):519–526, 2006.

Brower KJ. Anabolic steroid abuse and dependence. Curr Psychiatry Rep 4(5):377–387, 2002.

Arvary D, Pope HG Jr. Anabolic-androgenic steroids as a gateway to opioid dependence. N Engl J Med 342:1532, 2000.