(208) SOCIAL MEDIA, BODY DYSMORPHIA AND RESISTANCE TRAINING: THE EMERGING WAVE OF ANABOLIC ANDROGENIC STEROIDS IN MEN

Abstract Introduction Resistance training by recreational sportspeople in fitness settings has become increasingly popular worldwide, moreover an increasing landscape of social media (SM) influencers in bodybuilding have arisen since 2021, specially on short-duration videos (clips). Some Image enhancer drug users, including anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are known to mistrust medical health professionals and seek out information and advice from online sources. Objective we aimed to quantitatively assess the quality of social media videos as an information source for AAS usage in the general population. Methods A search was performed on the most popular short-clips social media platforms in the US (TikTok, YouTube) with the most searched terms for AAS. The first 50 results with any search term listed by relevance were selected in each platform. Video features (views, likes, subscribers) and video sources were collected. Each video included in the study was assessed using DISCERN score to quantify the source quality. Results A total of 100 videos were included and analyzed. Most videos (84%) were from non-health professionals (influencers/clip source/podcasts), only 7% of the videos came from a health educator/physician. Most videos were rated as “very poor” (85%) and “poor” (7%) According to the DISCERN classification, there was a statistically significant difference (p < 0.001) by both content creator type, and platform with the highest scores among physicians [37 (33-41)] and YouTube [19(17.7-30.2]. [Fig]. Conclusions Image-centric social media use is positively associated with the use of AAS. Despite the increasing number of information, the overall quality was poor. The misleading, inaccurate and incomplete information may pose a health risk to the viewers. Further efforts in health policies are strongly encouraged to assess this problem. Disclosure No.