Athletic Activity and Hormone Concentrations in High School Female Athletes

Abstract

Context: Physical activity may affect the concentrations of circulating endogenous hormones in female athletes. Understanding the relationship between athletic and physical activity and circulating female hormone concentrations is critical.Objective: To test the hypotheses that (1) the estradiolprogesterone profile of high school adolescent girls participating in training, conditioning, and competition would differ from that of physically inactive, age-matched adolescent girls throughout a 3-month period; and (2) athletic training and conditioning would alter body composition (muscle, bone), leading to an increasingly greater lean-body-mass to fat-body-mass ratio with accompanying hormonal changes.Design: Cohort study. Settings: Laboratory and participants' homes. Patients or Other Participants: A total of 106 adolescent girls, ages 14-18 years, who had experienced at least 3 menstrual cycles in their lifetime.Main Outcome Measure(s): Participants were prospectively monitored throughout a 13-week period, with weekly physical activity assessments and 15 urine samples for estrogen, luteinizing hormone, creatinine, and progesterone concentrations. Each girl underwent body-composition measurements before and after the study period.Results: Seventy-four of the 98 girls (76%) who completed the study classified themselves as athletes. Body mass index, body mass, and fat measures remained stable, and 17 teenagers had no complete menstrual cycle during the observation period. Mean concentrations of log(estrogen/creatinine) were slightly greater in nonathletes who had cycles of ,24 or .35 days. Mean log(progesterone/creatinine) concentrations in nonathletes were less in the first half and greater in the second half of the cycle, but the differences were not statistically significant.Conclusions: A moderate level of athletic or physical activity did not influence urine concentrations of estrogen, progesterone, or luteinizing hormones. However, none of the participants achieved high levels of physical activity. A significant number (17%) of girls in both activity groups were amenorrheic during the 3-month study period.Key Words: menstrual cycle, estrogen, anterior cruciate ligament, exercise physiology Key PointsUrine concentrations of estrogen and progesterone in high school females were not altered by level of physical or athletic activity. A significant number of both athletic and nonathletic young women were amenorrheic and probably anovulatory during the 3-month study period. Athletic training and conditioning did not alter body composition over the course of the study.

Surgical treatment of anterior cruciate ligament injury (review)

“…• hormonal profile [ 21,22]. Recently, the literature focuses on neuromuscular imbalance of the lower limb, a leading issue in assessing the risks of ruptures of the anterior cruciate ligament in athletes [23,24].…”

Menstrual Cycle and Sport Injuries: A Systematic Review

“…During these years, the menstrual cycle (MC) occurs consecutively [ 1 ]. This cycle is a periodic phase that occurs in the female genital organs and is characterised by a series of structural and functional changes induced by hormonal interactions in the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. The most characteristic phenomenon of this period is endometrial bleeding, which also allows for measurement of the cycle’s duration [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ].…”

Comparison of cardiorespiratory resistance in different menstrual cycle phases in female futsal players

“…11 The effect of exercise on hormone concentrations and the regulation of MC may be fundamental to the understanding of sports physiology. 12 Significant effects on exercise response and athletic performance were showed by hormonal variations especially in estrogen and progesterone. 7,13---15 In addition to reproductive function, female sex hormones are best known to affect numerous cardiovascular, respiratory, thermoregulatory, and metabolic parameters, and may affect performance throughout the phases of MC.…”