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The cardiovascular and psychiatric complications of anabolic androgenic steroid (AAS) use are well known. To determine whether they are associated with changes in brain structure, Norwegian investigators used high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging in 82 weightlifters who had used AASs for more than a year with 68 weightlifters who never used AASs or other doping substances.
Compared with nonusers, AAS users had less overall gray matter, lower cortical and putamen volumes, and thinner cortex throughout the brain. More prolonged and greater use of AASs was associated with more loss of cortical thickness and volume. The results were not explained by comorbid abuse of non-AAS substances, but comorbid substance abuse amplified the effects of …