During the initial Covid-19 vaccine rollout, a rare complication called myocarditis was detected, primarily in young males. The incidence of this problem was low and most of the cases were mild. Still, even for people in the highest-risk demographic for vaccine-associated myocarditis, receiving the primary series of the Covid-19 vaccines was safer than getting Covid-19 without having been vaccinated.
It's not clear that this is *causal*, especially in terms of risk-taking and accidental death, though for the other mortality, it makes more sense to conclude that. Which otherwise healthy young men are more likely to take steroids— those who are highly inclined to risk-taking or those who are not? Trait impulsivity is just as likely to lead to steroids and early accidental death as it is that steroids produce impulsivity..... probably more so.
Little off topic (kinda)…when or if do you think we will move to an annual Covid vaccine? What I really mean is when will as a society we have confidence that this is the best thing to prevent serious illness? Thanks for all you do!
"Also striking, deaths both from natural causes (heart attacks, cancer) and unnatural causes (accidents, homicide, suicide) were higher in the steroid users, compared to controls. That implies that anabolic drug use had both physical and mental effects. For example, it’s known that steroid users have increased risk-taking behaviors."
Or are people who would take steroids more risk tolerant and do they have any other character traits that might lend them to a premature end?
I can't access the study right now, what was the difference in the natural death rate? I would not be surprised if hypertrophic cardiac disease was overrepresented in a population that was athletic enough to care about doping themselves, though.
The difference in natural death rate was 16/1189 (1.3%) in the steroid users and 334/59450 (0.56%) in controls. That does not delineate your point, though. One way that could be distinguished would be dose-response. Among steroid users, were deaths more likely among those who used for longer periods (vs people who took a dose or two and then got caught).
It's not clear that this is *causal*, especially in terms of risk-taking and accidental death, though for the other mortality, it makes more sense to conclude that. Which otherwise healthy young men are more likely to take steroids— those who are highly inclined to risk-taking or those who are not? Trait impulsivity is just as likely to lead to steroids and early accidental death as it is that steroids produce impulsivity..... probably more so.
That's a good point. Certainly could be a cycle at play there.
Little off topic (kinda)…when or if do you think we will move to an annual Covid vaccine? What I really mean is when will as a society we have confidence that this is the best thing to prevent serious illness? Thanks for all you do!
"Also striking, deaths both from natural causes (heart attacks, cancer) and unnatural causes (accidents, homicide, suicide) were higher in the steroid users, compared to controls. That implies that anabolic drug use had both physical and mental effects. For example, it’s known that steroid users have increased risk-taking behaviors."
Or are people who would take steroids more risk tolerant and do they have any other character traits that might lend them to a premature end?
I can't access the study right now, what was the difference in the natural death rate? I would not be surprised if hypertrophic cardiac disease was overrepresented in a population that was athletic enough to care about doping themselves, though.
The difference in natural death rate was 16/1189 (1.3%) in the steroid users and 334/59450 (0.56%) in controls. That does not delineate your point, though. One way that could be distinguished would be dose-response. Among steroid users, were deaths more likely among those who used for longer periods (vs people who took a dose or two and then got caught).