Association of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug use and self-reported running performance in recreational marathon runners

This study examined the association of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use and self-reported running performance and the perceptive reasons for NSAID use in Chinese recreational marathon runners. A self-administered questionnaire was filled by 201 Chinese marathon runners at marathon exposition or running club training sessions one to two weeks prior to 2009 Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon race. The questionnaire included sections comprising of personal information, running performance and training background, sports injury, and NSAID usage. Fifty-three participants (26%) reported that they had used NSAID in the previous three months. Of these, 22 runners (42%) indicated that treatment of sprain injury was the main reason for taking NSAID and 48 runners (91%) reported incidence of sports injury in the past three months. A significant association was found between the incidence of sports injury and NSAID usage according to χ ² analysis (P<0.001). Among the 53 runners who reported NSAID usage, physician was the major source (70%) in obtaining NSAID while 26% of the users indicated that they acquired no or limited knowledge on the side effects of NSAID. NSAID usage was found to be significantly associated with self-reported personal best run time as well as weekly training mileage (P<0.05). In the fast runner group stating less than 4 hours of personal best run time, 32.4% of them reported NSAID usage. In contrast, only 20% of the runners who stated more than 4 hours of personal best run time reported NSAID usage. These findings suggest that the use of NSAID is related to the incidence of sports injury and self-reported running performance in Chinese recreational marathon runners.