ArticleDrug and alcohol review2025
Looking for the Best Way to Come Off Steroids Safely? Exploring Post-Cycle Therapy, Cessation, and Recovery Discourse and Practice in Australian Steroid Consumer Forums.
Article in Drug and alcohol review, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- What anabolic-androgenic steroids reveal about the limits of current harm reduction models.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2026Article
- Co-producing a peer-led health conversation tool for the health services workforce to facilitate safer use of anabolic-androgenic steroids.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- Looking for the Best Way to Come Off Steroids Safely? Exploring Post-Cycle Therapy, Cessation, and Recovery Discourse and Practice in Australian Steroid Consumer Forums.Drug and alcohol review · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionAnabolic-androgenic steroid (AAS) use is rising in Australia; however, discontinuation poses challenges due to withdrawal symptoms and a lack of clinical guidance. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore online discourses around post-cycle therapy (PCT), including perceived health risks, benefits and barriers, among people who use AAS.
methodsThis study employed a digital ethnographic approach to explore Australian 'steroid forums' discussing PCT. Data were collected by extracting posts containing relevant keywords across four selected forums, with analysis guided by the Health Belief Model to identify barriers, facilitators and perceptions related to PCT.
resultsA total of 150 threads and 5059 posts from 580 unique forum users were analysed. Key barriers to PCT engagement included social influences, aggressive anti-PCT discourse and regulatory constraints. Benefits of PCT were recognised in preventing side effects and preserving muscle gains. Consumers shared concerns about hormonal imbalance, sexual health and long-term damage, which were driving forces behind seeking advice on PCT. DISCUSSION AND
conclusionsThis study highlights the role of online forums in shaping AAS consumers' understanding of PCT, where peer-driven knowledge networks facilitate harm reduction. However, inconsistent advice and the lack of clear clinical guidelines, compounded by the lack of prospective studies, contribute to uncertainty and risk. This underscores the need for evidence-based, non-stigmatising support in healthcare.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.