Ulrich R, et al. – A scrutiny was performed of the prevalence of doping at two major international athletic competitions with the aid of a novel method called 'randomized response technique (RRT)'. It was disclosed that doping was significantly widespread among elite athletes. It was largely unchecked irrespective of current biological testing. The survey technique put forth during this study would allow prospective investigators to generate continued reference estimates of the prevalence of doping.

Methods

• This study included 2167 athletes, who were surveyed at two sporting events: The 13th International Association of Athletics Federations Word Championships in Athletics (WCA) in Daegu, South Korea in August 2011 and the 12th Quadrennial Pan-Arab Games (PAG) in Doha, Qatar in December 2011.
• A “randomized response technique,” which guaranteed anonymity for individuals when answering a sensitive question, determined the prevalence of doping.
• A control question was administered at PAG assessing past-year use of supplements.

Results

• The estimated prevalence of past-year doping was 43.6% (95% confidence interval 39.4-47.9) at WCA and 57.1% (52.4-61.8) at PAG.
• The estimated prevalence of past-year supplement use at PAG was reported to be 70.1% (65.6-74.7%).
• Sensitivity analyses, examining the robustness of these estimates under numerous hypothetical scenarios of intentional or unintentional noncompliance by respondents, indicated that overestimation of the true prevalence of doping was unlikely.