Physician-Prescribed Medication Use by the Finnish Paralympic and Olympic Athletes

OBJECTIVE: Data about medication use by Paralympic athletes (PAs) are limited and no data concerning medication use outside Paralympics exist. The objective of the current study was to compare the use of physician-prescribed medication in PAs and Olympic athletes (OAs). DESIGN: A cross-sectional comparative study. SETTING: Finnish PAs and OAs receiving financial support from the Finnish Olympic and Paralympic committee in 2006 and 2009, respectively. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 92 PAs (response rate, 75.0%; 92 of 123) and 372 OAs (response rate, 91.9%; 372 of 405) participated. ASSESSMENT OF RISK FACTORS: Age, sex, and type of athlete (PA vs OA) were included as independent covariates in the logistic regression model analysis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The use of physician-prescribed medication among athletes during the previous 7 days and 12 months. RESULTS: Among the PAs, the use of physician-prescribed medicines (48.9% vs 33.3%; adjusted odds ratio, 1.99; 95% confidence interval, 1.13-3.51), painkillers (2.61; 1.18-5.78), oral antibiotics (4.10; 1.30-12.87), and anti-epileptic medicines (37.09; 5.92-232.31) were more common than among the OAs during the previous 7 days. Paralympic athletes had used significantly less asthma medicines than the OAs during the previous 7 days (4.3% vs 11.0%; adjusted odds ratio, 0.30; 95% confidence interval, 0.10-0.96). CONCLUSIONS: The use of any physician-prescribed medicines, especially those to treat chronic diseases, seems to be more common among the PAs than the OAs. Paralympic athletes use significantly less asthma medicines than OAs.