Objective: To conduct a meta-analytic review of psychosocial predictors of doping intention, doping use and inadvertent doping in sport and exercise settings.
Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis.
Data sources: Scopus, Medline, Embase, PsychINFO, CINAHL Plus, ProQuest Dissertations/Theses and Open Grey.
Eligibility criteria: Studies (of any design) that measured the outcome variables of doping intention, doping use and/or inadvertent doping and at least one psychosocial determinant of those three variables.
Results: We included studies from 25 experiments (N=13 586) and 186 observational samples (N=3 09 130). Experimental groups reported lower doping intentions (g=-0.21, 95% CI (-0.31 to -0.12)) and doping use (g=-0.08, 95% CI (-0.14 to -0.03), but not inadvertent doping (g=-0.70, 95% CI (-1.95 to 0.55)), relative to comparators. For observational studies, protective factors were inversely associated with doping intentions (z=-0.28, 95% CI -0.31 to -0.24), doping use (z=-0.09, 95% CI -0.13 to to -0.05) and inadvertent doping (z=-0.19, 95% CI -0.32 to -0.06). Risk factors were positively associated with doping intentions (z=0.29, 95% CI 0.26 to 0.32) and use (z=0.17, 95% CI 0.15 to 0.19), but not inadvertent doping (z=0.08, 95% CI -0.06 to 0.22). Risk factors for both doping intentions and use included prodoping norms and attitudes, supplement use, body dissatisfaction and ill-being. Protective factors for both doping intentions and use included self-efficacy and positive morality.
Conclusion: This study identified several protective and risk factors for doping intention and use that may be viable intervention targets for antidoping programmes. Protective factors were negatively associated with inadvertent doping; however, the empirical volume is limited to draw firm conclusions.
Objectives: To assess the clinical competence of sports medicine physicians to recognise and report harassment and abuse in sports, and to identify barriers to reporting and the need for safeguarding education.
Methods: We implemented a cross-sectional cohort study design recruiting through social media and international sports medicine networks in 2023. The survey captured participant perceptions related to the harmfulness of harassment and abuse. The survey incorporated the reasoned action approach as a theoretical framework to design survey questions to identify attitudes and self-efficacy to detect and report suspicions of harassment and abuse and to identify barriers to reporting.
Results: Sports medicine physicians (n=406) from 115 countries completed the survey. The situations of harassment and abuse presented in the survey were described by sports medicine physicians as having occurred in the 12 months before participating in the survey. Despite recognising the situations as harmful, sports medicine physicians were somewhat uncomfortable being vigilant for the signs and symptoms and reporting suspicions and disclosures of harassment and abuse (M=2.13, SD=0.67). In addition, just over one-quarter (n=101, 26.9%) was unaware of where to report harassment and abuse, and over half did not know (n=114, 28.1%), or were uncertain (n=95, 23.4%) of who the safeguarding officer was in their sports organisation. Participants identified many barriers to reporting harassment and abuse, including concerns regarding confidentiality, misdiagnosis, fear of reprisals, time constraints and lack of knowledge. Over half felt insufficiently trained (n=223, 57.6%), and most respondents (n=324, 84.6%) desired more education in the field.
Conclusions: Educational programmes to better recognise and report harassment and abuse in sports are needed for sports medicine trainees and practising clinicians. An international safeguarding code for sports medicine physicians should be developed.
Objective: This study aims to evaluate the time point and magnitude of peak effectiveness of exercise and the effects of various exercise modalities for osteoarthritis (OA) symptoms and to identify factors that significantly affect the effectiveness of exercise.
Design: Pharmacodynamic model-based meta-analysis (MBMA).
Data sources: Embase, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and Scopus were searched for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) examining the effect of exercise for OA from inception to 20 November 2023.
Eligibility criteria: RCTs of exercise interventions in patients with knee, hip or hand OA, using Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) subscales or Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) pain scores as outcome measures, were included. The minimum clinically important difference (MCID) for WOMAC total, pain, stiffness, function and VAS pain was 9.0, 1.6, 0.8, 5.4 and 0.9, respectively.
Results: A total of 186 studies comprising 12 735 participants with symptomatic or radiographic knee, hip or hand OA were included. The effectiveness of exercise treatments peaked at 1.6-7.2 weeks after initiation of exercise interventions. Exercise was more effective than the control, but the differences in the effects of exercise compared with control on all outcomes were only marginally different with the MCID (7.5, 1.7, 1.0, 5.4 and 1.2 units for WOMAC total, pain, stiffness, function and VAS pain, respectively). During a 12-month treatment period, local exercise (strengthening muscles and improving mobilisations of certain joints) had the best effectiveness (WOMAC pain decreasing by 42.5% at 12 weeks compared with baseline), followed by whole-body plus local exercise. Adding local water-based exercise (eg, muscle strengthening in warm water) to muscle strengthening exercise and flexibility training resulted in 7.9, 0.5, 0.7 and 8.2 greater improvements in the WOMAC total score, pain, stiffness and function, respectively. The MBMA models revealed that treatment responses were better in participants with more severe baseline symptom scores for all scales, younger participants for the WOMAC total and pain scales, and participants with obesity for the WOMAC function. Subgroup analyses revealed participants with certain characteristics, such as female sex, younger age, knee OA or more severe baseline symptoms on the WOMAC pain scale, benefited more from exercise treatment.
Conclusion: Exercise reaches peak effectiveness within 8 weeks and local exercise has the best effectiveness, especially if local water-based exercise is involved. Patients of female sex, younger age, obesity, knee OA or more severe baseline symptoms appear to benefit more from exercise treatment than their counterparts.
Objective: This study aimed to investigate how knee extensor and flexor strength change over time after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR).
Design: Systematic review with longitudinal meta-analysis.
Data sources: Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, Cochrane CENTRAL and SPORTDiscus to 28 February 2023.
Eligibility criteria: Studies of primary ACLR (n≥50), with mean participant age 18-40 years, reporting a quantitative measure of knee extensor or flexor strength were eligible. Muscle strength had to be reported for the ACL limb and compared with: (1) the contralateral limb (within-person); and/or (2) an uninjured control limb (between-person).
Results: We included 232 studies of 34 220 participants. Knee extensor and flexor strength showed sharp initial improvement postoperatively before tailing off at approximately 12-18 months post surgery with minimal change thereafter. Knee extensor strength was reduced by more than 10% compared with the contralateral limb and approximately 20% compared with uninjured controls at 1 year for slow concentric, fast concentric and isometric contractions. Knee flexor strength showed smaller deficits but was still 5%-7% lower than the contralateral limb at 1 year for slow concentric, fast concentric and isometric contractions. Between-person comparisons showed larger deficits than within-person comparisons.
Conclusion: Knee extensor muscle strength is meaningfully reduced (>10%) at 1 year, with limited improvement after this time up to and beyond 5 years post surgery. Many people likely experience persistent and potentially long-term strength deficits after ACLR. Comparison within person (to the contralateral limb) likely underestimates strength deficits in contrast to uninjured controls.