Prevalence and Usage Patterns of Oral Creatine Supplementation Among Wisconsin High School Athletes

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and usage patterns of creatine supplementation of southeastern Wisconsin high school athletes. A total of 254 high school athletes participated in the study. The subjects completed a 22-question survey asking about creatine familiarity, usage patterns, sports participation, and use of other nutritional supplements. Creatine was used by 9% of the participants, while 55% had never heard of creatine. Forty-six percent of creatine users began supplementation in their sophomore high school year. The majority of creatine users (82%) did not adjust their conditioning programs to optimize the effects of creatine. One-way -l analyses were used to determine any significant difference between supplement users and sport involvement (x2 [1,22]=8.9, Q< 0.05) and conditioning adjustments (x2 [1,22]=5.76, Q< 0.05). The analyses revealed a significant difference between these variables.