Thread: Study documents an association of steroid abuse and coronary artery calcification

http://www.iplayclean.org/resources/STEROIDPAPER.PDF


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first study that has documented an
association of steroid abuse and coronary artery
calcification in steroid abusers. Several large studies
have indicated that coronary artery calcium is a
major risk factor for coronary events, and a recent,
large prospective study reported that coronary
calcium predicts coronary disease events independently
of, and more accurately than, standard risk
factors.12,14,15 The fact that these relatively young
study patients developed early coronary arteriosclerosis
may have significant health and social implications.
We would expect that premature coronary
events will occur in similar steroid abusers. Due
to the rampant abuse of steroids from high school
sports to the now well publicized abuse by professional
sports figures, we may expect an increase in
cardiac events in otherwise healthy athletes when
they reach their late 30s to mid-40s.
In summary, long-term steroid abuse is associated
with an increased risk of coronary arteriosclerosis as
measured by increased coronary calcium seen with
electron beam computed tomographic imaging. We
hope that this study will now bring to light the clear
cardiovascular risk of steroid abuse and perhaps discourage
future athletes from using steroids. However,
due to the small number of subjects in this pilot project,
further large-scale studies are warranted.

I hate my arteries anyway.....