Anabolic steroids pose a great threat to health besides being illegal, as per Aaron L. Baggish, M.D., lead author of the study and instructor in the Department of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

It was disclosed in a research reported in Circulation: Heart Failure, an American Heart Association journal, that long-term use of anabolic steroids can weaken the heart more than previously thought besides resulting in heart failure.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Baggish and his co-investigators used a technique known as Doppler echocardiography to examine the left ventricle’s function and structure. The test uses high-frequency sound waves, or ultrasound, to create moving pictures of the heart and its blood flow.

The steroid-using group included 12 male weight lifters, average age 40, who reported taking about 675 milligrams of steroids per week for nine years. The control group was seven age-matched, male weight lifters who reported no steroid exposure. Both groups had similar durations of past and current weight lifting and other physical activity, as well as similar cardiac risk factors other than steroid use. Although the users and non-users had comparable body-mass indices and body-surface areas, the steroid users had more muscle mass than the non-users.

Despite the small sample size, the statistically significant differences in heart function suggest a strong link between steroid use and heart impairment, said investigators who are conducting further studies to confirm their findings.

Co-authors of the study were Rory B. Weiner, M.D.; Gen Kanayama, M.D., Ph.D.; James I. Hudson, M.D.; Sc.D.; Michael H. Picard, M.D.; Adolph M. Hutter, Jr., M.D.; and Harrison G. Pope, Jr., M.D.