engleski

Gender and age-related differences in athletes’ health status in individual and team sports

Introduction: Routine medical examinations are important in determining not only the current health status of athletes, but also potential different responses of males and females to certain athletic activities and gender-related health status differences. The main goal of this study was to determine the differences between athletes who are actively engaged in team vs. individual sports, stratified by age groups and gender, in BMI and other chosen biochemical health indicators. Methods: The data were collected during routine medical examinations in 2011 and 2012 from 8482 athletes in Zagreb, Croatia. Collected data included height, weight, BMI, blood pressure (diastolic and systolic), pulse rate, hemoglobin, hematocrit, leukocyte, thrombocyte, and sedimentation. Results: A number of statistically significant differences in BMI and chosen biochemical indicators have been revealed in femaleathletes (stratified by age groups) between individual and team sports. On the contrary, a minimal number of statistically significant differences in these variables related to the sport type have been detected in male athletes. Moreover, these differences indicate health status in male and female athletes across different age groups. Conclusions: Possible explanations for such results could be the specific features of different sport types, different gender-related motivation for choosing a sport type or greater general importance of physical activity for males, which is then also reflected in their health status. BMI and other chosen health indicators collected during routine medical examinations, according to a sport type, could be a useful proxy for detecting gender and age- related differences in athletes’ health status.

athletes; health status; individual and team sports

nije evidentirano