A comprehensive review on current analytical approaches used for the control of drug abuse in sports

Doping in sports is defined as violating any anti-doping guidelines issued by World anti-doping agency (WADA), which might include ingesting illegal or illicit performance-enhancing medications or using other unlawful practices. Doping has been scientifically shown to have major adverse health impacts, such as hypertension, an increased prevalence of cardio-vascular ailments, liver damage, as well as psychological dependence. It also plainly tarnishes the spirit, prestige, and worth of sports. Moreover, it is also linked to a number of untimely deaths in mainstream sports. As a result, there is a significant priority imposed on the present globalised issue of doping in sports and thus, this problem is becoming more and more apparent to health authorities, leading to the issuance of numerous novel techniques and guidelines to control doping in many literature reviews and editorials that have been publicly released till present day, but the large percentage of them are strictly limited to the anti-doping analytical advances only within a particular class of drugs. Advances in analytical chemistry are a requisite for the majority of significant anti-doping research fields, hence numerous such analytical based experimental approaches or techniques, like mass spectrometry, gas chromatography, etc., are routinely employed to detect doping in athletes. Herein, this review aims to provide a thorough and critical assessment of the academic research on the substantial advancements in anti-doping analytical approaches over the last decade and also, provides a broader visionary for various classes and their respective subclasses of prohibited drugs/ substances along with their chemical, structural, biological and analytical profile along with their utilization as per the official guidelines of World anti-doping agency (WADA).

Automated summary

Doping in sports refers to violating anti-doping guidelines issued by WADA, which may involve the use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs or other unlawful practices. Doping not only has major adverse health impacts, but also tarnishes the spirit and worth of sports. The issue of doping in sports has gained significant attention, leading to the development of various analytical techniques and guidelines. This review aims to critically assess the advancements in anti-doping analytical approaches and provide a broader perspective on prohibited drugs according to WADA's guidelines.