Introduction: Previous animal and human studies provided the evidence that testosterone may affect ventricular repolarization by shortening of the QT interval. Synthetic derivatives of testosterone, modified to enhance its anabolic properties, are occasionally abused by some competitive athletes.
Objective: We assessed whether the QT interval duration could discriminate androgenic anabolic steroids (AAS)-using strength athletes (SA) from drug-free endurance athletes (EA), by comparing 25 formulas for QT interval correction.
Methods: We recruited 22 elite male athletes involved in long-term strength or endurance training and 20 sedentary controls. All elite SA reported AAS abuse, whereas EA and controls were AAS-free.
Results: AAS-using SA had markedly shorter QT-interval than AAS-free EA (348 +/- 42.3 vs. 400 +/- 34.2 ms; p < 0.001). Also, drug-free EA had a significantly longer QT-interval than sedentary persons (400 +/- 34.2 vs. 358 +/- 18.9 ms; p < 0.01). In contrast, no significant difference in the QT-interval duration was observed between AAS users and control group (348 +/- 42.3 vs. 358 +/- 18.9 ms; p = 0.394). After the QT interval was adjusted for heart rate (HR) according to 25 different formulas, only the Ashman equation yielded considerable differences among the groups that were in line with those observed before correction.
Conclusion: Inconsistent results obtained by different correction formulas along with inability to discriminate QT (QTc) interval duration between AAS-misusing athletes and control group do not support the use of QT (QTc) interval for anti-doping purposes.