The STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABEŞ-BOLYAI issue article summary

The summary of the selected article appears at the bottom of the page. In order to get back to the contents of the issue this article belongs to you have to access the link from the title. In order to see all the articles of the archive which have as author/co-author one of the authors mentioned below, you have to access the link from the author's name.

Introduction: We determined the age at menarche in Greek swimmers compared to a sample of age matched non athletic controls in 1986 and in 2006. Methods: The cross sectional sample in both studies included 12-15 year old Greek female swimmers and age matched non athletic controls. The first study, conducted in 1986, included 354 swimmers and 350 non athletic controls. The second study, conducted in 2006, included 459 swimmers and 350 non athletic controls. Data were collected from a self administered structured questionnaire was delivered to the study participants in 1986 and 2006. Results: Menarche age occurred earlier in swimmers (12.69±1.15 years in 1986; 11.31±0.93 years in 2006) than in controls, but this difference was not statistically significant. In 1986, BMI was statistically higher that in controls, but this was not the case in 2006, when swimmers reported higher BMI values (20.84) compared to the 1986 study (19.86). There was evidence of a statistically significant association between age at menarche and subject’s height weight and body mass index. Conclusion: There is a tendency for earlier onset of menstruation in swimmers, but the age at menarche in swimmers is not significantly different from non athletic controls.

Keywords: menarche, swimmers, training.