en مطالعات اعتیاد Addiction پژوهشي Original Research Articles <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="line-height:2;"><span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Tahoma;"><strong>Objectives</strong>: To determine the prevalence of androgenic anabolic steroids (AAS) use among bodybuilders in different cities of Pakistan.<br> <strong>Methods</strong>: This cross-sectional study recruited 380 bodybuilders utilizing convenience sampling from different cities of Pakistan, including Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Quetta, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, and Islamabad. The study was conducted over a period of 6 months from January 2019 to June 2019. The sample included male bodybuilders aged 18 to 50 years. The basic demographic sheet and a self-designed form were used to collect data. SPSS software v. 21 was utilized for statistical analysis. The chi-square test was used to observe any relationship with P<0.05 as significant.<br> <strong>Results</strong>: The current study showed a prevalence of 109 (28.68%) AAS use in bodybuilders with testosterone being most commonly used. A total of 54 people (49.5%) used self-administration, 38 people (34.9%) used it for the short-term while 27 people (24.8%) used it in long-term. Bodybuilders were mostly inspired by peers 73 (67%) and encouraged by coaches 62 (56.9%) to use AAS. Regarding knowledge of AAS, its usage, benefits, and side effects, the majority (89%) had little or no knowledge.<br> <strong>Conclusion</strong>: The study concludes that the use of AAS is quite prevalent among bodybuilders in Pakistan with 28.68% of AAS mainly using testosterone preparation, and bodybuilders of age 20 to 40 mainly consuming AAS. Peers were the main inspiration for most (67%) and encouraged by their coaches to use AAS (56.9%).</span></span></span></div> <span style="line-height:2;"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span new="" roman="" times=""><span style="background:white"></span></span></span></span> Androgenic anabolic steroids, Health, Human body, Power, Testosterone 345 354 http://irj.uswr.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-1335-6&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Syed Muhammad syedmuscle@gmail.com 1 0000-0002-7933-1114 No Department of Health Physical Education & Sports Sciences, International Fitness Professionals Association, Florida, USA. Aqeel Ahmed Khan aqeelahmed644@hotmail.com 2 0000-0002-1567-0918 No Isra Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Isra University, Islamabad, Pakistan. Muhammad Kamran drkami772@gmail.com 3 0000-0003-1917-7511 No Chal Foundation Bacha Khan Medical Complex KPK, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Ejaz Asghar asghar_ejaz@hotmail.com 4 0000-0003-0795-0474 No Isra Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Isra University, Islamabad, Pakistan. Ghulam Saqulain ghulam_saqulain@yahoo.com 5 0000-0002-6452-9339 Yes Department of Otorhinolaryngology Capital Hospital PGMI, Islamabad, Pakistan. Muhammad Imran Khan mik.kba@gmail.com 6 0000-0002-3398-913X No Department of Higher Education, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Post Graduate College Khar Bajawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Shoukat Hayat shouky333@yahoo.com 7 0000-0002-2954-3039 No Isra Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Isra University, Islamabad, Pakistan.