The Female Athlete Triad: Prevalence in Military Women
Abstract
The female athlete triad, otherwise known as the inter-relatedness of disordered eating, amenorrhea, and osteoporosis, is an area of increasing awareness in female athletes, which has not been explored in military women. We conducted a 3 part prospective cross-sectional study to define the prevalence of eating disorders, menstrual irregularities, and the full female athlete triad in military women. A total of 423 female soldiers from the general active-duty population completed Part 1 which included the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI). Any woman meeting the screening criteria for being 'at risk' (AR) for abnormal eating behaviors underwent a clinical interview to determine whether or not they had a true eating disorder (ED). Of the 423 women who participated, 33.6% (n=142) met the screening criteria for being AR for an eating disorder with 33 women (8%) actually meeting the criteria for an ED. Part 2 of the study, consisted of a clinical evaluation and laboratory studies of any woman with menstrual irregularities (MI). Including all women, 9% had amenorrhea, 6% oligomenorrhea, and 12% had onset of menarche older than 14 years of age. Excluding all women on hormonal birth control, the prevalence dropped to 2.1%, 3.3%, and 9.2% for amenorrhea, oligomenorrhea, and menarche older than age 14 respectively. Of the women not on hormonal birth control, only 1% had both an ED and MI, and 3.5% of women AR also had MI. Part 3 of the study evaluated the bone mineral density (BMD) of all women from Parts 1 and 2 using dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). There was no significant difference between the BMD of the femoral neck or the lumbar spine of 32 eumenorrheic controls with no abnormal eating behaviors and subjects with either MI, ED, or AR alone. Looking at those women with 2 variables, no women with both an ED and MI had the full triad who were not on hormonal birth
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA330021
Entities
People
- Tamara D. Lauder
Organizations
- Madigan Army Medical Center