INTRODUCTION: in sports, an athletic body type with low body fat is the most desired. OBJECTIVE: to estimate the prevalence of menstrual disorders and identify if body composition, especially body fat and training are associated factors of menstrual disorders in Brazilian competitive adolescent swimmers. METHODS: the sample consisted of 78 female athletes, 11 - 19-year olds, from the city of Rio de Janeiro. The presence of menstrual disorder and training were assessed through a validated questionnaire. Body composition was measured by DXA. Statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS 17.0. RESULTS: the athletes' mean age was 14.6 ± 0.2 years. Concerning the post-menarcheal athletes, 26.3% met the criteria for menstrual irregularity. Oligomenorrheic athletes started training younger than eumenorrheic ones (5.7 ± 3.1 years versus 7.3 ± 2.4 years, p=0.04), but there was no difference in relation to body composition (total body mass and body fat: 56.1 ± 6.5 kg and 26.3% ± 4.9 versus 53.3 ± 6.9 kg and 25.5 ± 6.5%, respectively). CONCLUSION: age of beginning of training instead of body composition is associated with menstrual disorder in Brazilian competitive adolescent swimmers.
training; menstrual cycle; body composition; athletes; adolescent
