Pioneering research links possible memory loss to anabolic steroid use

New research into the long-term effects of anabolic-androgenic steroids is beginning to show these drugs may have hazardous effects on the heart and certain aspects of memory.

Professor Harrison Pope, one of the world’s leading experts on the effects of steroid use, is involved in pioneering research both at Teesside University in Middlesbrough and Harvard Medical School in America.

In Middlesbrough, he has been working with drug and alcohol charity Lifeline and Teesside University to examine whether long-term use of high doses of anabolic-androgenic steroids might affect cognitive functions.

Professor Pope will unveil a summary of his initial study findings at a conference held in partnership between Lifeline and the University on Thursday 21 February.

He said: 'Our preliminary findings with cognitive testing suggest long-term steroid users are virtually identical to non-users in tests of reaction time, verbal memory and ability to maintain attention. However, on tests of visuo-spatial memory, where the individual is required to remember the appearance of a particular shape or pattern presented on a computer screen, or to remember the location where a particular pattern had previously appeared, the steroid users performed significantly less well than the non-users.'

He added: 'Interestingly, in one recent laboratory study in Italy, where rats were administered large doses of steroids, the rats developed difficulties with their visuo-spatial memory. This finding suggests that exposure to steroids might be the factor which compromises visuo-spatial memory. At the least, more research is urgently needed to address this question.'

Findings from Professor Pope’s American studies, looking particularly at tests of heart function in long-term steroid users, will also be presented for the first time at the Teesside University conference.

He added: 'Overall, there is still a great deal about the long-term effects of steroids that we do not know, but we are finally getting to the point where we have at least some concrete data pointing to possible risks of these drugs.'

Professor Pope, himself a weightlifter for more than 30 years, is one of the most highly cited psychiatrists of the 20th century and has been researching the effects of steroids for more than 25 years. He has published more than 300 scientific papers in psychiatry and medicine and spoken at conferences worldwide. One of his most famous research projects looked at the popular Action Man figure and how it has grown steadily more muscular over the last several decades.

With colleague Dr Gen Kanayama, also from Harvard Medical School, Professor Pope first worked with Lifeline in Middlesbrough in 2009, alongside Joseph Kean and Adam Nash, looking at the issue of anabolic-androgenic steroid dependence. They returned last year to work again with Joseph, focusing on cognitive functions in long-term steroid users and weightlifters who had not used steroids.

Professor Pope said: 'Steroids are one of the newest forms of drug use. Steroids were only discovered about 70 years ago. Initially used only by elite athletes and bodybuilders, it was not until the 1980s and 1990s that we started to see widespread use of steroids in the general population.

'Most of their long-term effects are still very poorly understood by science, as we simply do not have enough data. The studies currently being conducted by my research group are some of the first large studies attempting to get answers to these questions.'

Lifeline is a national charity which works with individuals, families and communities both to prevent and reduce harm, to promote recovery, and to challenge the inequalities linked to alcohol and drug misuse.

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