BMJ Press Releases, Saturday 13 July 1996
Volume 313 No 7049

EMBARGOED 00.01 HRS 12 JULY 1996

ANABOLIC STEROID LINK TO INCREASED INFERTILITY AMONG BODY BUILDERS

[Anabolic steroid abuse by body builders and male subfertility]

An increasing number of men attending infertility clinics have used anabolic steroids for body building, doctors in Newcastle report.

Five case studies in this week's BMJ illustrate the problem of low or nil sperm counts among men who had recently taken anabolic steroids. Doctors from the centre for reproductive medicine at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle-upon-Tyne say the increasing problem may be due to the rise in popularity of body building in the north east.

Infertility is a well known adverse effect of anabolic steroids but despite this many of the men attending the clinic were unaware of the risks. Other adverse effects of anabolic steroids include liver disease, jaundice, reduced libido and prostatic cancer. The authors say that as steroid abuse is often hidden, doctors must be vigilant in looking for signs of steroid abuse. These men are usually easily recognised by their physique and often have small testicles.

Contact: Dr Murdoch

Centre for Reproductive Medicine
Royal Victoria Infirmary
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
NE1 4LP

Tel: 0191 227 5169
Fax: 0191 230 3542

MEASURES AIMED AT REDUCING SMOKING MUST HIT HARD

[Tobacco control]

With 1.1 billion smokers consuming 6.05 trillion cigarettes annually, tobacco control policies must hit hard, according to a paper in this week's BMJ.

Each year, three million people die worldwide from the effects of smoking and this figure is expected to rise to 10 million a year by the 2020s. About one third of regular smokers in developed countries are now women, compared with only one in eight in the developing world. Overall, however, 70 per cent of smoking-related deaths will occur in developing countries.

The paper highlights a number of effective policies.

Taxation: a price rise of 10 per cent leads to a five per cent fall in demand.

Harm reduction: banning smoking at work leads to a 25 per cent fall in smokers' tobacco consumption.

Restricting advertising: research shows that children are highly susceptible to tobacco advertising. Several governments including China have made encouraging moves to control tobacco advertising.

The acid test of the effectiveness of such policies has always been the reaction from the tobacco industry, according to Professor Simon Chapman, the paper's author. "If the industry opposes a tobacco control initiative, this is diagnostic of a policy that promises to bite hard into tobacco sales. If it applauds or ignores initiatives, we can feel certain that they are of little consequence, he said.

Contact: Prof Simon Chapman

Dept of Public Health & Community Medicine
University of Sydney
Sydney 2006
Australia

Tel: 0061 2 568 3151
Fax: 0061 2 568 2353
E-mail: simon@cmed.wh.su.edu.av

CHILDHOOD ENVIRONMENT LINKED TO HEART DISEASE RISK FACTORS IN BRITISH CHILDREN

[Cardiovascular risk factors in British children from towns with widely differing adult cardiovascular mortality]

Children in areas with a high rate of deaths from heart disease are on average, shorter, fatter and have higher blood pressures than those living in areas with a lower rate, according to a paper in this week's BMJ.

Other studies have suggested that the risk of developing heart disease may be strongly influenced by factors which may affect their development in the womb and therefore their subsequent birth weight. This study suggests that the childhood environment plays the more important part in risk factor development. Researchers studied 3,145 white schoolchildren, aged eight to 11, in ten towns in England and Wales.

The authors say that there needs to be more research on the contribution of diet, exercise and social factors since four of the five towns with high levels of deaths from heart disease are among the most socially deprived boroughs of England and Wales.

Contact: Dr Peter Whincup
Senior lecturer in Clinical Epidemiology

Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine
London NW3 2PF

Available until Wed 10 July
Tel: 0171 794 0500 xtn 4290
Fax: 0171 794 1224

&

Dr Stephanie Taylor
Senior registrar in Public Health Medicine

Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine
London NW3 2PF

Available Thurs 11 July
Tel: 0171 794 0500 xtn 6764
Friday 12 July
Tel: 0171 222 2348
(home) 0171 229 5973

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