Is there an association between athletic amenorrhea and endothelial cell dysfunction?
OBJECTIVE
To test the hypothesis that young females with athletic amenorrhea and oligomenorrhea show signs of early cardiovascular disease manifested by decreased endothelium-dependent dilation of the brachial artery.


METHODS
Ten women with athletic amenorrhea (mean +/- SE, age 21.9 +/- 1.2 yr), 11 with oligomenorrhea (age 20.8 +/- 1.1 yr), and 11 age-matched controls (age 20.2 +/- 1.1 yr) were studied. Study subjects were amenorrheic an average of 2.3 (range 0.6-5) yr and oligomenorrheic an average of 6.2 yr. All ran a minimum of 25 miles.wk. They were nonpregnant and free of metabolic disease. Brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (endothelium-dependent) was measured with a noninvasive ultrasound technique in each group.


RESULTS
Endothelium-dependent brachial artery dilation was reduced in the amenorrheic group (1.08 +/- 0.91%) compared with oligomenorrheic (6.44 +/- 1.3%; P< 0.05) and eumenorrheic (6.38 +/- 1.4%; P< 0.05) groups.


CONCLUSIONS
Athletic amenorrhea is associated with reduced endothelium-dependent dilation of the brachial artery. This may predispose to accelerated development of cardiovascular disease.
Zeni Hoch
Anne
A
Sports Medicine Center, Departments of Orthopaedic Surgery/Cardiovascular Center, Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA. azeni@mcw.edu.
Dempsey
Rania L
RL
Carrera
Guillermo F
GF
Wilson
Charles R
CR
Chen
Ellen H
EH
Barnabei
Vanessa M
VM
Sandford
Paul R
PR
Ryan
Tracey A
TA
Gutterman
David D
DD
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000568:Amenorrhea / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D001916:Brachial Artery / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D004435:Eating; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006728:Hormones / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D006940:Hyperemia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D005996:Nitroglycerin / Q000494:pharmacology; D009839:Oligomenorrhea / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D013177:Sports; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014664:Vasodilation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D014665:Vasodilator Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D016387:Women's Health
D006728:Hormones; D014665:Vasodilator Agents; D005996:Nitroglycerin