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Caminiti's Death Puts Spotlight on Steroids
HealthDayNews
Oct. 11, 2004
The sudden heart attack death of former baseball star Ken Caminiti, 41,
highlights the potential link between substance abuse among pro athletes
and its dangerous effects on health, according to experts.
Caminiti, who died Sunday in New York City, had admitted in the past to
abusing both cocaine and performance-enhancing steroids.
"For males in the U.S., heart disease is the number one cause of death,
and steroid abuse makes heart disease even worse," stressed Dr. Linn
Goldberg, a professor at Oregon Health Sciences University, and an expert
on steroid abuse.
Caminiti was voted the National League's Most Valuable Player in 1996
after hitting a career-high .326 and leading the San Diego Padres to the
National League pennant. He also belted 40 home runs, drove in 130 runs,
and won the second of three consecutive Gold Glove awards for his work at
third base that year. But a darker side to Caminiti's brilliance on the
field emerged in May 2002, when he told Sports Illustrated he had used
steroids to maximize his performance during that winning season.
Anabolic steroids help build muscle tissue and increase body mass by
acting like the body's natural male hormone, testosterone.
More recently, Caminiti was admitted to a Texas drug-treatment facility in
February 2003, after testing positive for cocaine use, leading state
prosecutors to revoke his probation from a previous drug conviction.
And just last Tuesday, Caminiti admitted in a Houston court that he had
violated his probation again after testing positive for cocaine use in
September.
A spokeswoman for the New York City medical examiner's office said an
autopsy would be performed Monday, The New York Times reported.
The exact causes and contributing factors to Caminiti's heart attack
remain unknown. But Dr. Nieca Goldberg, a spokeswoman for the American
Heart Association, said steroids raise nearly all heart disease risk
factors. "One, steroid use raises blood pressure," she said. "Two, it can
also alter your sugar metabolism, so you have an increased risk of
diabetes. Three, it makes the arteries vulnerable since, because of
elevated cholesterol, you get cholesterol plaque buildup."
Steroid abuse can also cause a dangerous thickening of heart muscle called
hypertrophy --- the same kind of heart-muscle enlargement seen in patients
with congestive heart failure, experts warn. "By revving the heart up with
steroids, making it grow bigger, and then taking those steroids away, you
end up with a heart muscle that's enlarging and then contracting. It's
like putting [pitching great] Roger Clemens' arm in a sling and then
telling him to pitch," explained Dr. Eric Braverman, a New York City
doctor who has counseled numerous pro athletes on steroid abuse and other
medical issues.
Braverman believes athletes take steroids for the mental boost, too. "They
get addicted to the high -- the testosterone high and the mood elevation
that goes along with that performance edge," he said.
Caminiti's recent cocaine convictions mean his cardiovascular system was
facing yet another challenge, the AHA's Goldberg said. "Cocaine increases
your risk for heart attack," she said. "It can cause a direct spasm of the
blood vessels, closing off the blood supply to heart muscle. It can also
cause a life-threatening arrhythmia."
Braverman believes steroids and cocaine act on similar mechanisms, causing
some people to "cross-addict" to both drugs. "Steroids have a kind of
amphetamine effect, similar to cocaine," he said. In the case of cocaine,
"it gives people a thrill -- your heart races and there's that edge. But
sooner or later your heart goes off the deep end and collapses."
Caminiti's death has shifted the focus yet again to recurrent scandals of
drug-abuse and steroid abuse among professional athletes.
The exact number of pro baseball players -- and other world-class athletes
-- taking steroids remains unknown. But OHSU's Goldberg said the results
of Major League Baseball testing efforts suggest it may be as high as one
in every six players.
In his 2002 interview with Sports Illustrated, Caminiti estimated that
half of all pro baseball players were using the supplements.
Linn Goldberg (no relation to Nieca Goldberg) said his biggest concern
remains the health of America's teenagers, who are increasingly influenced
by the behaviors of their favorite sports stars. "These are very dangerous
drugs, and their effects on children are even greater than on adults
because they affect all their biological systems," he said. "It's a shock
to their body, because the hormones are so powerful."
Goldberg has long pushed for passage of a "Steroids Bill" that would
educate children about the dangers of steroid abuse while limiting the
over-the-counter sale of so-called "pro-hormones" -- nonsteroidal
compounds that are transformed into steroid hormones once ingested. That
bill was just passed by both the U.S. House of Representatives and the
Senate, Goldberg said, and now awaits President Bush's signature.
Caminiti died of drug overdose, police source says
News Wire Reports
October 15, 2004
Preliminary results of the autopsy performed on Ken Caminiti show the
former National League Most Valuable Player died of a drug overdose, a New
York City police source told ESPN's Jeremy Schaap.
Caminiti, 41, reportedly collapsed in a Bronx apartment Sunday and was
pronounced dead at Lincoln Hospital. His agent, Rick Licht, said at the
time Caminiti died of a heart attack.
The medical examiner's office performed the autopsy Monday, but a
spokesman for the medical examiner said Thursday no official cause of
death would be announced until the completion of a toxicology report,
which could take up to 10 days.
Caminiti battled drug and alcohol problems during his 15-year major league
career. In May 2002, he told Sports Illustrated he used steroids during
his career.
On Tuesday, (New York) Newsday reported Caminiti was "depressed" and
"edgy" and wanted to talk about "life, love and everything," during the
last hours of his life, according to Rob Silva, a 35-year-old ex-con from
Brooklyn who had met Caminiti about 18 months ago.
Just last week, Caminiti admitted in a Houston court that he violated his
probation by using cocaine last month and was sentenced to 180 days in
jail.
Cocaine and opiates found in Caminiti's body
ESPN.com
November 1, 2004
Drugs contributed to former baseball player Ken Caminiti's death, a medical official said Monday.
Caminiti died from acute intoxication due to the combined effects of cocaine and opiates, a spokeswoman
for the New York City Medical Examiners Office told ESPN. A contributing factor was coronary artery
disease and cardiac hypertrophy (an enlarged heart), she said.
Caminiti, 41, reportedly collapsed in a Bronx apartment Oct. 10 and was pronounced dead at Lincoln
Hospital. His agent, Rick Licht, said at the time Caminiti died of a heart attack.
The medical examiner's office performed the autopsy on Oct. 11 but would did not immediately
release the results pending a toxicology report.
On Oct. 14, ESPN's Jeremy Schaap first reported through a police source that preliminary results
of Caminiti's autopsy showed that the former National League MVP died of a drug overdose.
Caminiti battled drug and alcohol problems during his 15-year major league career. In May 2002, he
told Sports Illustrated he used steroids during his career.
In early October, he admitted in a Houston court that he violated his probation by using cocaine
last month, and was sentenced to 180 days in jail.
Caminiti's big-league career ended in 2001. He was a three-time All Star third baseman and a
unanimous pick for MVP in 1996 when he led the San Diego Padres to the division series.
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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
