The female athlete triad among female Students of the Physical Education Department at the University of Bahrain

Abstract

Abstract : A prospective, cross-sectional prevalence study was carried out between November 2003 and March 2004 on active Physical Education Department (PED) female students and non Physical Education Department female students at the University of Bahrain (UOB). The purposes of this study were to define the prevalence of female athlete triad (FAT) among PED female students at UOB, and also to study the factors that are related to FAT among PED female students at the UOB. A sample of 276 (78.86%) out of 350 the total number of PED female students, and 244 of non PED female students as a control group were volunteered for the study. The researcher conducted questionnaire for the purpose of assessing the main factors related to FAT. It consisted of several parts: physical exertion, dietary intake, nutrition habits, and reproductive system health. And also the bone mineral density (BMD) was evaluated by using Achilles Express Bone Densitometer. The results revealed that the prevalence BMD reduction among PED female students at the UOB was a 25.36%. With a the mean of (-0.14) and standard deviation (1.14), the BMD of PED female students was significantly less than non PED female students (BMD mean and standard deviation were (0.16 ±1.15). Pearson correlation revealed that FAT factors were significantly related, whereas linear multiple regression revealed, that there is a reciprocal effect between these factors and that these factors explined BMD by 30.6%. It was concluded that FAT could be present between some PED female students at the UOB. And that the equation prediction for BMD scores is BMD score = -1.7399-0.102 (physical exertion score) + 0.005035 (nutrition score) + 0.120 (reproductive system health score).