Androgenic-anabolic steroids inhibited post-exercise hypotension: a case control study.

The sample was small: 13 AAS users and 16 controls, all professional bodybuilders, so it may not apply to other populations. Participants were not hypertensive and had similar resting systolic and diastolic blood pressures, so the study does not show what happens in patients with hypertension. AAS users were on different substances, doses, cycles and cycle counts, so the study cannot identify which steroid or how much steroid exposure caused the blunted systolic response. BMI was higher in the AAS group, and the authors state they cannot emphatically determine whether BMI influenced the systolic blood pressure response. The paper does not describe blinding, and the groups were defined by AAS use status. The diastolic blood pressure result was null, so the main finding is specific to systolic pressure.

The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The supplied text does not report a funding source.

Do not read this as proof that aerobic exercise is ineffective for blood pressure control in all patients. The blunted response was systolic only, occurred in anabolic steroid users, and was studied in young normotensive bodybuilders, not in hypertensive patients.