Clinical AdvisorCreatine Use Rose Sharply in US Teens From 2019 to 2024

ℹ️ Observational Association Only Evidence

A Monitoring the Future analysis of 874,931 8th, 10th, and 12th graders (2001-2024) found past-year creatine use rose from 6.29% to 9.68% overall, with boys’ use nearly doubling (8.71% to 16.57%) between 2019-2020 and 2023-2024 alone, while steroid use fell.

Clinical Considerations

• Creatine use roughly doubled among boys (8.71% to 16.57%) and nearly tripled among girls (1.22% to 3.27%) in just the most recent 4-year window
• Anabolic steroid use declined steadily over two decades, from 1.99% to 0.67% overall, despite researcher concern about social media-driven “toxic gym culture” and “looksmaxxing” trends
• Perceived harmfulness of steroids dropped modestly (62.10% to 55.79% rating “great risk”), a shift driven primarily by changing attitudes among boys
• Perceived availability of steroids declined substantially (36.95% to 17.94% reporting easy access), which may partly explain the use decline independent of risk perception

Practice Applications:

• Recognize creatine as an increasingly common adolescent supplement, particularly among boys influenced by gym and fitness-related social media content
• Consider asking adolescent patients directly about creatine and other performance supplement use during routine visits, given its rising prevalence
• Monitor for inconsistency between declining steroid use and declining risk perception, which could signal future shifts
• Interpret these findings as population-level trend data; the study did not establish individual health outcomes associated with adolescent creatine use