Frequency and structure of endocrine diseases in young elite athletes

Abstract

There is no data on the prevalence of endocrine disorders in young elite athletes in Russia.Objective: to assess the prevalence of endocrine pathologies and their structure in children and adolescents involved in elite sport.Materials and methods: the study included data from outpatient records of members of national sports teams, who underwent special medical examination. The data of a random sample of 1081 outpatient cards of young athletes, for 26 sports, were analyzed.Results: we found a high prevalence of endocrine pathology (18.6 %) in children and adolescents involved in high-performance sports. Thyroid diseases are most the most frequent in young athletes (in 57.3 % of cases). On second place is obesity (12.3 %). The frequency of weight deficiency and short stature is 8.4 % each. Autoimmune thyroiditis occupies a leading place in the structure of thyroid pathology in young elite athletes. Subclinical hypothyroidism takes the second place, and nodular goiter — the third place.Conclusion: young elite athletes are characterized by a high frequency of endocrine pathology, the leading place in which is occupied by thyroid diseases. It is necessary to further studies aimed at assessing the mechanisms of hormonal adaptation in elite young athletes to assess their impact on the development of the child and the correct interpretation of the hormonal profile obtained during a special medical examination.

Keywords

• young elite athletes
• endocrine diseases
• thyroid disease