Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25878074›Full record

ReviewBritish journal of sports medicine2015

High prevalence of medication use in professional football tournaments including the World Cups between 2002 and 2014: a narrative review with a focus on NSAIDs.

Philippe M Tscholl, Martin Vaso, Alexis Weber, Jiri Dvorak

Abstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in British journal of sports medicine, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
32citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

32 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Analgesic Use in Sports.Deutsches Arzteblatt international · 2023
    Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Caffeine, but not paracetamol (acetaminophen), enhances muscular endurance, strength, and power.Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2024
    Trial
  4. Ibuprofen alters human testicular physiology to produce a state of compensated hypogonadism.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2018
    Trial
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Painkiller use in amateur football: high prevalence, but limited misuse.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2025
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Philippe M TschollFIFA-Medical Assessment and Research Center (F-MARC), Schulthess Clinic, Zürich, Switzerland Division of Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery, Geneva University Hospital, Switzerland.
Martin VasoFédération Internationale de Football Association, Zürich, Switzerland.
Alexis WeberFédération Internationale de Football Association, Zürich, Switzerland.
Jiri DvorakFIFA-Medical Assessment and Research Center (F-MARC), Schulthess Clinic, Zürich, Switzerland Fédération Internationale de Football Association, Zürich, Switzerland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The use of medication in international football has been monitored since the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Team physicians were asked to provide information on prescribed medication 72 h prior to each match for every player. 69% of adult male players reported using medication, with more than half the players using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Up to one-third of all players used NSAIDs prior to every match, regardless of whether they took the field or not. The mean intake of medication was significantly higher during the FIFA Women's World Cup (0.85 vs 0.77 substances per player and per match in men, p<0.001), whereas the use of NSAIDs was similar to that for men. In the Under-20 and Under-17 male competitions, the use of medication was lower as 60% of players used some kind of medication and 43% of the players used NSAIDs during the tournaments. Despite the potential side effects of medication, especially of NSAIDs in the recovery process after a sports activity, there is no evidence of decreasing intake. The reported incidence is alarming, and moreover is most probably underestimated, since self-medication by the players or treatment already prescribed by club physicians is not included in the published reports. Future studies should focus on the daily dosage, time of treatment and especially the medical indication for painkilling agents to better understand the underlying factors.

Indexed as

Adrenal Cortex HormonesAnalgesicsAnestheticsAnti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-SteroidalFemaleHumansMaleMusculoskeletal PainPatient Acceptance of Health CareSoccerSports MedicineTranslational Research, BiomedicalAdrenal Cortex HormonesAnalgesicsAnestheticsAnti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-SteroidalFootballMedicinePharmacologyRisk factorSoccer

Identifiers

PMID25878074
PMCPMC4413681

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.