Abstract
The aims of the study were 1) to investigate the present status of body size, skeletal maturation and hematological parameters and 2) to assess relationship of these variables in male and female gymnasts. One hundred six gymnasts including 54 male and 52 female gymnasts were participated in the study. Mean age of the male and female gymnasts were 14.7±3.37 years and 14.3±3.06 years, respectively. Anthropometric characteristics included body weight, height, sitting height, 2 bone widths, 8 circumferences, and 5 skinfold thicknesses. Skeletal maturation was assessed by the Tanner-Whitehouse II method. Skeletal age was determined by RUS scores (radius, ulna, and short bones). Hemoglobin(Hb), hematocrit(Hct), red blood cell(RBC), white blood cell(WBC), ferritin, mean corpuscular volume(MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration(MCHC), and mean corpuscular hemoglobin(MCH) were analyzed by automated instrumentation(ADVIA 120, Bayer, USA). Serum iron and total iron binding capacity(TIBC) were determined by auto-analyzer(HITACHI 7150, Tokyo, Japan) and transferrin saturation(TS) was calculated by dividing serum iron concentration by TIBC. All statistical analysis were carried out by the SAS computer programs. The results indicated that significant difference could be observed for anthropometric measurements including body weight(43.2kg vs 38.7kg), upper arm(25.3cm vs 23.2cm), upper arm flexed(27.1cm vs 24.3cm), chest(83.9cm vs 76.0cm), and waist(63.3cm vs 60.0cm) circumferences, triceps(7.6mm vs 9.7mm), thigh(11.3mm vs 15.3mm), and calf(8.7mm vs 11.4mm) skinfolds, and femur diameter(8.4cm vs 7.7cm) between male and female gymnasts. Means of RUS score and bone age were 497.2, 12.8year for male and 654.3, 12.0year for female gymnasts. Analysis of covariance showed that there are significant difference for RBC(p0.05, F＝5.72), Hct(p0.05, F＝4.96), Ferritin(p0.05, F＝5.84), between male and female gymnasts. On the other hand, other hematological parameters including WBC, Hb, TF, serum iron, TIBC, MCV, and MCH were not significantly different between two groups of the subjects. Body weight and height are significantly related to RBC, Hct, MCV, MCH. Significant relationships were also found between bone age and RBC(r＝0.23), MCV(r＝0.33), and MCH(r＝0.26). As a result of the study, it can be suggested that body size and skeletal maturation are related to hematological parameters in gymnasts.
Published Version
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