Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Adolescence is a crucial period for linear growth, and sports training during this time may have positive or negative effects on some physiological processes as growth. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of intense training during somatic growth on the onset of puberty and growth development in adolescent wrestlers.

Description of methods/design: Fifty adolescent male wrestlers and 21 sedentary healthy male controls aged 13–15 years were selected. The wrestlers were active at a competitive level from five different wrestling schools. The maturity status of subjects and data about the anthropometric characteristics were evaluated. Serum levels of testosterone, DHEA-S, FSH, LH, prolactin, cortisol, IGF1, TSH and free thyroxine (fT₄) were determined.

Results: Anthropometric characteristics and puberty levels according to Tanner stage were similar in both groups. Sex hormones and cortisol, IGF1, prolactin levels did not differ statistically but TSH concentrations differed significantly between wrestlers and sedentary control groups (P=0.015).

Conclusion: The results suggest that training in adolescent male wrestlers did not significantly change resting sex hormones or alter the onset of puberty as determined by assessment of pubertal stages. The wrestlers had lower body fat and greater energy expenditure per week, there were no significant differences in height, weight, or BMI.