Prevalence Of Low Bmd Of High-level Kenyan Male And Female Distance Runners Compared To Kenyan Controls

Kenyan male and female runners have dominated international running events for decades, however the information about their bone health to date is lacking. High training volumes and low energy availability concurrently could potentially impact greatly on bone health. Previous reports lack comparison with the proper control group. PURPOSE: To determine the bone health indices of Kenyan high-level male and female distance runners. METHODS: Participants were 26 female (28.7±6.3 yr; 51.8±5.0 kg; 1.63±0.07 m; 19.5±2.0 kg·m-2; IAAF performance score: 1029±132 pt) and 30 male (28.1±3.8 yr; 57.7±6.1 kg; 1.73±0.05 m; 19.6±1.8 kg·m-2; IAAF performance score: 1087±66 pt) high level Kenyan distance runners. Control group consisted of 29 female (25.0±5.7 yr; 63.4±9.1 kg; 1.65±0.06 m; 23.3±3.2 kg·m-2) and 29 male (24.1±3.8 yr; 62.5±10.1 kg; 1.7±0.08 m; 21.8±5 kg·m-2) university students of similar age. DEXA was used to measure BMD at the lumbar spine (LS-BMD), right femur (RF-BMD) and total body (TB-BMD). Low BMD was defined as Z-score between -1.0 and -2.0 and osteoporosis < -2.0. RESULTS: There were no differences in LS-BMD Z-score, RF-BMD Z-score and TB-BMD Z-score between female-male athletes and their respective controls. LS-BMD Z-score, RF-BMD Z-score and TB-BMD Z-score frequency count in the range of -1 to -2 and below -2 is shown in table 1. CONCLUSION: There was high prevalence of low BMD (Z-score < -1) in high level male and female Kenyan distance runners and somewhat unexpectedly for control groups too; but, no statistical differences in bone health indices between female-male athletes and corresponding control groups. These findings warrant additional investigation be conducted into the energy balance, eating disorders, disordered eating and hormonal markers to further explain causality, both among Kenyan athletes and controls.Table 1.: Number of participants with Z-scores in the range of -1 to -2 and below -2.