2.1 Design

Cross-sectional study, being an observation at a point in time of the online availability of the three compounds selected that can be used as doping substances (oxandrolone, DHEA, and androstendione), and bought from six countries (Spain, Puerto Rico, Canada, United States, Ukraine and Russia). These countries were selected for several reasons: some of them were monitored by WADA in October 2022 (Russia, Ukraine, and Puerto Rico) (World Anti-Doping Agency, 2022a); two other countries as they host the Compliance Review Committee (CRC) and the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) (Canada and Spain, respectively); and the United States of America, due to the number of athletes (Barrack et al., 2020; USADA, 2023) and the annual revenue from the sale of sports supplements, with more than 1.4 billion in annual revenue (Badawy et al., 2021). Thus, we decided to analyze these supplements because they may be frequently consumed by athletes, and their intake is often associated with improvements in sports performance, either by increasing muscle mass (Jenkinson and Harbert, 2008), their effects on sex hormones (Mason et al., 2001) or their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions (Cerqueira et al., 2020).

To carry out the searches, an “ad hoc” software was used and programmed. By using the computer tool designed, it was simulated to be a purchaser of these products from each of the countries described above. The results obtained in the different searches were reviewed and evaluated by pairs. Any potential disagreement was resolved by all authors. The searches and data evaluation took 15 days (from 1st to 15th July 2023).

The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) Statement was used to report data (Cuschieri, 2019) and the checklist included in the Supplementary Material (see Appendix A).