NurseWeek: Young female athletes may face bone, heart problems later

Periodic heart trouble
Young female athletes may face bone, heart problems later

By Randy Dotinga
HealthScout Reporter
June 22, 2001


	You've read the article. Now tell us what you think. What to do If you are a female athlete or know someone who is, be aware of the serious problems that lack of menstruation can cause. Female athletes should make sure they get enough to eat. The Medical College of Wisconsin suggests that athletic women consume 45 calories for each kilogram (2.2 pounds) of body weight. For example, a woman who weighs 132 pounds should consume 2,700 calories a day. Females aged 11 to 24 also should consume 1,500 milligrams of calcium a day, the equivalent of four or five 8-ounce glasses of milk. Read about the troubles facing young female athletes who stop menstruating at this Web site offered by Humboldt State University. The Feminist Women's Health Center also offers a variety of tidbits about menstruation. And read previous HealthScoutNews articles on female athletes and menstruation.

(HealthScout). Researchers have found a possible link between cardiovascular disease and the disappearance of menstrual periods among female athletes who overextend themselves.

Researchers say the findings offer another reason for young women to monitor their bodies if they exercise frequently. "These girls need to think that if they're not having a period, they may have bad bones and a bad heart" later in life, says Dr. Anne Zeni Hoch, a professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin who is studying cardiovascular problems among athletic women.

Hoch reported her findings at this month's meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine.

In recent decades, sports medicine experts have become increasingly aware of the dangers facing women who push their bodies so much that they stop menstruating.

As many as 40 percent of female athletes have irregular menstrual cycles or none at all, Hoch says. "This is especially a problem in sports where there's an emphasis on leanness and being thin, like long-distance running, ballet, figure skating, gymnastics or crew [rowing]."

Experts suspect menstruation shuts down because the women athletes aren't getting enough energy through food. "You don't have enough calories to go around," Hoch says.

Some women may like not having periods, but cessation of menstruation can cause serious physical problems that may not be immediately apparent, Hoch says.

For one, women produce less estrogen without menstruation, making it harder for bones to absorb calcium. That can lead to osteoporosis.

Hoch studied three groups of women who ran at least 25 miles a week. One group had regular menstrual cycles. The second had irregular periods, and the third had ceased menstruating.

In the third group, the average age was 21, and the women hadn't menstruated for an average of 2½ years.

Hoch tested the ability of the women's blood vessels to expand during stress. "We looked at a blood vessel in the elbow area at rest, and inflated a blood pressure cuff, cut off blood supply for three to five minutes and deflated it." Researchers then measured vessel expansion.

Compared with the other subjects, the rate of widening of arteries was 80 percent lower in the women who weren't menstruating.

Hoch says their blood vessels were acting like those of women in their 50s. "They've induced a condition very similar to menopause."

The findings show that the blood vessels of the non-menstruating women are "stiffer" than those of other women, a sign that cardiovascular disease may be developing, Hoch says.

The lack of estrogen in the women may explain their apparent cardiovascular problems, says Anne Loucks, professor of biology at Ohio University. "As we learn more about estrogen, we're finding more places that it acts," she says.

Perhaps the only good news is that female athletes who stop menstruating can restart their cycles, she says. "If they don't resume them [on their own], there's technology to treat them with various types of hormones to stimulate ovulation."

More research is needed to see if bone and heart problems related to lack of menstruation may be permanent, Loucks says.

This is a News story from HealthScout, a service of Rx Remedy, Inc.