The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship and comparisons of athletic amenorrhea and bone mineral density in adolescent, cross-country runners. Subjects: Twenty-eight female adolescent cross-country runners (Mean Age + SD = 15.0 + 1.3 years); consisting of seventeen eumenorrheics & eleven amenorrheics. Design: The design consisted of a sixmonth longitudinal design in which the subjects were measured before and after cross-country season for height, weight, and lean tissue (LT), body fat (BF), bone mineral content (BMC), and bone mineral density (BMD) using whole-body scan densitiometry with a Lunar Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometer (DXA). Run performance, weekly training volumes, menstrual dysfunction, menarchal age, nutritional information, and stress fractures were reported by the subjects. Statistical analyses consisted of Pearson product-moment and partial correlations to examine the associations of the variables, paired t-tests to measure seasonal body composition changes, multivariate analysis (MANOVA & MANCOVA) to investigate the subgroup differences of variables, and simple linear regression to determine the best body composition predictor variable for BMD. Results: The eumenorrheic subgroup's BMD was significantly greater than the amenorrheic subgroup's BMD (F(1, 54) = 16.22, p<.05, partial h² =.231). The eumenorrheic subgroup's bodyweight (F(1, 54) = 7.65, p<.05, partial h² =.124), BF (F(1, 54) = 8.56, p<.05, partial h² =.137), and BMC (F(1, 54) = 8.52, p<.05, partial h² =.136) were significantly greater than the amenorrheic subgroup. There was also a significant seasonal increase in BMD (t(27) = -4.01, p <.05) for the overall group. Bodyweight was the body composition component that best predicted BMD (F(1, 26) = 46.434, p<.05, R² =.641). There were no significant subgroup differences with respect to run performance, stress fractures, and nutritional supplementation. Conclusions: Athletic amenorrhea was highly associated with lower levels of BMD in adolescent, cross-country runners. Athletic amenorrhea was also highly associated with lower levels of bodyweight, BF, and BMC in adolescent cross-country runners. Finally, cross-country running was highly associated with increased BMD in adolescent athletes. Implications: The long-term implication of the study is that subjects with lower levels of BMD may be at a greater risk of osteoporosis. Recommendations: Educate and instruct runners to utilize proper training methods so the healthful benefits of crosscountry running, as well as improved performance, are obtained.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uno.edu/oai:scholarworks.uno.edu:td-1401 |
| Date | 22 May 2006 |
| Creators | Bonis, Marc |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UNO |
| Source Sets | University of New Orleans |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations |
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