Higher bone mass in prepubertal and peripubertal female footballers

Objectives: The main aim of this study was to compare the bone mass of female football players with controls of different pubertal stages. Methods: Sixty five girls aged 8-14 years (10.14 +/- 0.1, Tanner stages I-IV) participated in the study. Twenty participants were prepubertal (10 prepubertal control) and 45 peripubertal (15 peripubertal control). All footballers trained two days per week while the control group did not perform regular physical activity outside of school. Body composition was assessed by Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Analysis of covariance was performed to evaluate differences in lean and bone masses. Results: Significant differences in lower-body extremities lean mass (LLM) between peripubertal groups were found (P<.05). Additionally, prepubertal footballers showed higher values of bone mineral content (BMC) at the femoral neck (P<.05) while peripubertal footballers exhibited enhanced BMC at the whole-body, trochanter and Wards triangle area. Bone mineral density (BMD) was higher in footballers compared to their non-active peers at the femoral neck and intertrochanter (P<.05, respectively) while in the peripubertal footballers higher BMD values were found in almost all of the studied body sites. Conclusion: Female footballers showed higher bone and lean masses compared to control counterparts; these differences are already detectable at prepubertal ages and more consistent after pubertal spurt.