From bodybuilding to the local gym: how performance-enhancing drugs can damage the heart

By David Oxborough, Professor of Echocardiography and Cardiovascular Physiology, Liverpool John Moores University
Flo Place, PhD Candidate, Cardiovascular Physiology, Liverpool John Moores University

Image and performance-enhancing drugs (IPEDs), such as steroids and human growth hormone, can harm the heart – and it isn’t just elite bodybuilders who are at risk.

With a growing number of everyday gym-goers taking these drugs to improve their fitness or enhance their appearance, what was once a niche issue in competitive sports is quickly becoming a wider public…

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