title: Hydration status assessment among elite youth amateur boxers.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Weight cutting is a common practice in amateur boxing with the purpose of taking advantage of rivals competing in weight divisions below the athlete's normal weight. Dehydration is a common weight-manipulating technique in boxing, and is known as a serious health-threatening behavior. In this study, we investigated field hydration status differences between the weight class categories in elite junior boxers.
  
  
  METHODS
  The sample of subjects included 21 male junior boxers from Croatia, Germany and Hungary (all national team members). The field assessment was conducted prior to competition. Subjects were divided into three weight class categories: Lightweight (Lw), Middleweight (Mw), and Heavyweight (Hw). The sample variables included urine specific gravity (USG) measured via a refractometer and total body fluid content (BFC) measured via Bioelectric Impedance Analysis (BIA). Data were collected on two occasions, i.e. at national team competitions that took place in preparation for the World Junior Championships.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between Lw 1.027±0.004 and Hw 1.019±0.005 (F=8.81, P<0.001) and Mw 1.028±0.003 and Hw (F=7.16, P<0.01) in USG. BIA findings showed conflicting results in relation to the USG findings. The results show a significant difference between Lw 67.84% BFC and Hw 65.14% BFC (P<0.01). These conflicting results, the lack of correlation between the two methods and the discrepancy in the Bland-Altman plot indicate that techniques for non-invasive field assessments of hydration have certain limitations. It seems that refractometry is more sensitive and accurate diagnostic tool to detect body fluid shifts then BIA when applied on athletes involved in chronical weight cycling protocols.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nevertheless, our data suggest that Lw and Mw class athletes seem to be more prone in reaching consequent dehydration state that literature frequently cites as hypohydration.
authors: Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Split, Split, Croatia - hrvojek@kifst.hr.
authors: Damir
authors: D
authors: Zubac
authors: Hrvoje
authors: H
authors: Karninčić
authors: Marko
authors: M
authors: Žaja
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000886:Anthropometry; D056352:Athletes; D001835:Body Weight; D001914:Boxing; D003681:Dehydration / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016482:Urinalysis