Examination of the Prevalence of Female Athlete Triad Components among Competitive Cheerleaders

Allison B. Smith, Jennifer L. Gay, Shawn M. Arent, Mark A. Sarzynski, Dawn M. Emerson and Toni M. Torres-McGehee
Additional contact information
Allison B. Smith: School of Kinesiology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA 70507, USA
Jennifer L. Gay: Department of Health Promotion & Behavior, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
Shawn M. Arent: Department of Exercise Science, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
Mark A. Sarzynski: Department of Exercise Science, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA
Dawn M. Emerson: Department of Physical Therapy, Rehabilitation Science, and Athletic Training, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS 66160, USA
Toni M. Torres-McGehee: Department of Exercise Science, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 3, 1-18

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine individual and combined Female Athlete Triad components within collegiate cheerleaders, an at-risk group. Cheerleaders ( n = 19; age: 20.3 ± 1.2 years) completed anthropometric measurements, health history questionnaires, resting metabolic rate, the eating disorder inventory-3 and symptom checklist, blood sample, and DXA scan. Participants completed dietary and exercise logs for 7 days and used heart rate monitors to track daily and exercise energy expenditure. Proportions were calculated for low energy availability (LEA) risk, disordered eating risk, and pathogenic behaviors. Chi-square analysis was used to determine the difference between cheerleaders who experience low EA with or without disordered eating risk. All cheerleaders demonstrated LEA for the days they participated in cheerleading practice, 52.6% demonstrated LEA with eating disorder risk and 47.4% demonstrated LEA without eating disorder risk, 52.6% self-reported menstrual dysfunction, 14% experienced menstrual dysfunction via hormonal assessment, and 0% demonstrated low bone mineral density. Overall, 47.7% presented with one Triad component, 52.6% demonstrated two Triad components using self-reported menstrual data, and 10.5% demonstrated two Triad components using hormonal assessments. All cheerleaders displayed LEA. These findings support the need for increased education on the individual components of the Triad and their potential consequences by qualified personal.

Keywords: low energy availability; menstrual dysfunction; bone mineral density; female athlete triad (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1375/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/3/1375/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:3:p:1375-:d:734552

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().