Impact of Health Authority Control Measures Aimed at Reducing the Illicit Use of Anabolic-Androgenic Steroids

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate two interventions on anabolic-androgenic-steroids (AAS) dispensation in retail pharmacies. Material and Methods: The study was conducted in a north-western region of Spain. Data were the AAS supplied by wholesale drug distributors to retail pharmacies over a period of 102 months. It is designed as an ecological time-series study; the dependent variables were daily defined doses per 1,000 inhabitants per day of each drug. The two interventions evaluated were: (1) an inspection program intended for those retail pharmacies where there was an irregular dispensation and (2) a regulation put forth forcing these pharmacies to carry out additional registers. The medications studied were stanozolol, nandrolone, methenolone, testosterone and mesterolone. Results: The pre-intervention use of AAS displayed a rising trend. There was an immediate reduction of 30.56% after the first intervention, and a further reduction of 35.25% after the second. There was a seasonal pattern of use in the pre-intervention period, pointing to an increased demand at the end of spring and beginning of summer. The most abused drugs were stanozolol and nandrolone. Conclusion: The health actions were very effective, in that they brought about a sharp reduction in the illicit use of AAS. These interventions could be applied to other drugs in which abuse were detected.

Impact of a health alert and its implementation on flutamide prescriptions for women: an interrupted time series analysis

“…To decrease the use of this drug, measures with proven effectiveness could be implemented, such as: (a) submitting the dispensing of flutamide to a prior authorisation requirement [31][32][33][34][35][36]; (b) introducing druginspection programmes [37,38]; or, (c) returning Spain to the system that is still in place in other European countries, whereby off-label use must be previously authorised by the state drug agency [4]. This study's limitations would arguably include its ecological design or the lack of a control group, though, as other potentially related external factors should have affected both sexes equally, the men's group could be regarded as a control group for the women.…”