Prospective decrease in progesterone concentrations in female lightweight rowers during the competition season...

Area of Science:

• Sports Medicine
• Endocrinology
• Exercise Physiology

Background:

• Female athletes undergoing intense training often experience hormonal fluctuations.
• Ovarian hormone function is sensitive to exercise load and body weight changes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate ovarian hormone function in response to intense exercise and body weight changes in female athletes.
• To compare hormone excretion patterns between elite rowers and sedentary controls.

Main Methods:

• Assessed urinary oestrone glucuronide (E1G) and pregnanediol glucuronide (PdG) excretion in 12 female lightweight rowers and 10 controls.
• Measured hormone levels during competition and off-season periods.
• Correlated training load and body weight changes with hormone excretion.

Main Results:

• Lightweight rowers lost significant body weight (5.8 kg) during the competition season.
• Significantly lower peak and average urinary PdG excretion was observed in rowers during competition season compared to controls.
• Lower E1G excretion was noted in rowers but did not reach statistical significance.
• Training hours and degree of weight loss were significant determinants of PdG excretion suppression.

Conclusions:

• Intensive competition training and associated weight reduction in female rowers lead to significant suppression of progesterone metabolite (PdG) excretion.
• Oestrone metabolite (E1G) excretion also decreased, though not significantly.
• Hormonal levels largely recovered during the off-season with reduced training and increased body weight.