Substance use and misuse in a mountain ultramarathon: new insight into ultrarunners population?

ABSTRACT

Endurance and ultra-endurance events have become increasingly popular. The aim of our study was to explore the use of medication among endurance runners participating in the 2014 Infernal Trail des Vosges. Among the 389 runners engaged, 297 (76.3%) completed a specific questionnaire dealing with substance use/misuse. Our results show a 27% (before the race) and 18% (during the race) prevalence of substance use. The two major classes of substances used were non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs; 9.8%) and painkillers (6.7%), principally because of osteo-articular pain (29.6%) or to prevent pain (28.2%). A positive correlation was found between substance consumption before (past month) and during the race (overall medication: p < 0.0001; NSAIDs: p = 0.008). Our results could be explained by the specific characteristics of ultrarunners predominantly motivated by personal achievement and general health (recreational approach). However, education interventions should further be delivered regarding the risks of substance use in ultra-endurance events.

KEYWORDS:

• Ultra-endurance
• ultramarathon
• endurance exercise
• attitude

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank all the participants, the organizational team and the medical board of the 2014 Infernal Trail des Vosges. We thank Sarah Willis for his valuable advice in editing this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.