Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28849386›Full record

ArticleSports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.)2018

Doping in Two Elite Athletics Competitions Assessed by Randomized-Response Surveys.

Rolf Ulrich, Harrison G Pope, Léa Cléret, Andrea Petróczi, Tamás Nepusz, Jay Schaffer, Gen Kanayama, R Dawn Comstock, Perikles Simon

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Article in Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 50 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
50citing papers in PubMed, 4 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

50 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  5. Angiogenic Doping: Plausible Yet Difficult to Detect.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026
    Review
  6. Erythropoiesis-Targeted Doping in Sports: From Improved Oxygen Transport to Cardiovascular Risk.Pathophysiology : the official journal of the International Society for Pathophysiology · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Rolf UlrichDepartment of Psychology, University of Tübingen, 72076, Tübingen, Germany.
Harrison G PopeBiological Psychiatry Laboratory, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, 02478, USA. hpope@mclean.harvard.edu.
Léa CléretSport and Exercise Science, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.
Andrea PetrócziSchool of Life Sciences, Pharmacy and Chemistry, Kingston University, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, KT1 2EE, UK.
Tamás NepuszSchool of Life Sciences, Pharmacy and Chemistry, Kingston University, Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, KT1 2EE, UK.
Jay SchafferDepartment of Applied Statistics and Research Methods, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO, USA.
Gen KanayamaBiological Psychiatry Laboratory, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, 02478, USA.
R Dawn ComstockPediatric Injury Prevention, Education, and Research Program, Colorado School of Public Health, Aurora, CO, USA.
Perikles SimonDepartment of Sports Medicine, Rehabilitation and Disease Prevention, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, 55131, Mainz, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDoping in sports compromises fair play and endangers health. To deter doping among elite athletes, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) oversees testing of several hundred thousand athletic blood and urine samples annually, of which 1-2% test positive. Measures using the Athlete Biological Passport suggest a higher mean prevalence of about 14% positive tests. Biological testing, however, likely fails to detect many cutting-edge doping techniques, and thus the true prevalence of doping remains unknown.

methodsWe surveyed 2167 athletes at two sporting events: the 13th International Association of Athletics Federations Word Championships in Athletics (WCA) in Daegu, South Korea in August 2011 and the 12th Quadrennial Pan-Arab Games (PAG) in Doha, Qatar in December 2011. To estimate the prevalence of doping, we utilized a "randomized response technique," which guarantees anonymity for individuals when answering a sensitive question. We also administered a control question at PAG assessing past-year use of supplements.

resultsThe estimated prevalence of past-year doping was 43.6% (95% confidence interval 39.4-47.9) at WCA and 57.1% (52.4-61.8) at PAG. The estimated prevalence of past-year supplement use at PAG was 70.1% (65.6-74.7%). Sensitivity analyses, assessing the robustness of these estimates under numerous hypothetical scenarios of intentional or unintentional noncompliance by respondents, suggested that we were unlikely to have overestimated the true prevalence of doping.

conclusionsDoping appears remarkably widespread among elite athletes, and remains largely unchecked despite current biological testing. The survey technique presented here will allow future investigators to generate continued reference estimates of the prevalence of doping.

Indexed as

AthletesAthletic PerformanceDoping in SportsHumansPrevalenceRepublic of KoreaSportsSubstance-Related DisordersSurveys and Questionnaires

Identifiers

PMID28849386

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.