eTable 3a. Studies of analgesic use in professional and elite sports (data collected from doping control forms).
| Study (reference) | Study population | Number (n) | Prevalence period | Point prevalence | Frequency of use | Use related to sport | Information on analgesic group or substance class | Any discussion of adverse drug effects | ||||
| Before competition/match day | On competition/match day | Yes | n.d. | Yes | No | Yes | No | |||||
| Corrigan and Kazlauskaz (2003) (26) | Olympic Games Sydney 2000 Various sports | 2758 | 3 days before doping control | 25.6% NSAIDs | X | X | X | |||||
| Kavukcu, Burgazli (2013) (36) | Football UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, Turkish Super League Football 2003 to 2007 |
4176 | 72 h before the match | Use of at least one analgesic product: 34.9% NSAIDs 6.1% other analgesics |
X | X | X | |||||
| Pedrinelli et al. (2015) (e6) | Football FIFA World Cup 2000 to 2012 | 1064 | 72 h before doping control | 27.3% NSAIDs 17.5% other analgesics |
X | X | X | |||||
| Oester et al. (2019) (e4) | Football FIFA World Cup 2018 | 736 | 72 h before the match | 40.0% NSAIDs 17.0% other analgesics |
X | X | X | |||||
| Trinks et al. (2021) (e14) | Football – top German leagues, Cup, and A and B Junior Bundesliga 2015/16 to 2019/20 | 8344 | 7 days before doping control | 33.0% analgesics (2015/16 to 2019/20), of which 48.0% ibuprofen 22.0% diclofenac 10.0% paracetamol 6.0% ASA |
X | X | X | |||||
| Tscholl et al. (2008) (e15) | Football World Cup 2002 and 2006 | 2944 | 72 h before the match | 30.8% NSAIDs 4.0% other analgesics per match |
X | X | X | |||||
| Tscholl et al. (2009) (9) | Football 6 FIFA Men’s World Cup tournaments U-17 to U-20 and Women’s World Cup 2003 to 2007 | 2488 | 72 h before the match | 16.7% – 36.6% NSAIDs 0.1– 5.9% other analgesics |
X | X | X | |||||
| Tscholl et al. (2010) (e16) | World Athletics Championships 12 IAAF Youth and Veterans 2003 to 2008 | 3887 | 7 days before doping control | 27.3% NSAIDs 13.1% other analgesics |
X | X | X | |||||
| Tscholl and Dvorak (2012) (e19) | Football FIFA World Cup 2010 | 736 | 72 h before the match | 34.6% NSAIDs and 6.4% other analgesics |
X | X | X | |||||
| Tsitsimpikou et al. (2009) (e20) | Olympic Games 2004Various sports | 2463 | 3 days before competing | 11.1% NSAIDs and 3.7% other analgesics |
X | X | X | |||||
| van Thuyne et al. (2008) (e21) | Dutch and Belgian elite athletes competing in individual and ball sports 2002 to 2005 | 18 645 | 3 days before competing | NSAIDs: 20.9%–31.1% volleyball 18.6%–25.7% football 16.3%–23.7% basketball 14.3%–16.2% handball 11.2%–14.9% athletics 4.4%–12.3% swimming 4.0%–5.7% cycling 2.8%–16.3% tennis Other analgesics: 0.5%–0.8% volleyball 0.8%–2.1% football 0.0%–1.8% basketball 0.9%–2.6% handball 0.4%–0.9% athletics 0.0%–2.3% swimming 0.8%–2.7% cycling 0.0%–2.9% tennis |
X | X | X | |||||
| Vaso et al. (2015) (10) | FIFA World Cup 2014 | 736 | 72 h before the competing | NSAIDs: 54.2% FIFA World Cup 30.6% Match Other analgesics: 12.6% FIFA World Cup 5.4% Match |
X | X | X | |||||
ASA, acetylsalicylic acid; n. d., no data; NSAID, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug