Abstract
Iron deficiency anemia may impair athletic performance. Long term training has been associated with iron depletion in athletes involve in heavy exercise, especially in women. The cross sectional study was carried out in the Department of physiology, of Dhaka Medical College, Dhaka, from July 2010 to June 2011 to assess the serum iron status in female athletes and its importance on performance. For this purpose a total number of 105 subjects (70 female athletes and 35 non athletes) were included within the age ranged from 15-25 years. In this study 35 apparently healthy female non athletes were selected as control (Group- A) and 70 female athletes were selected as study group (Group- B) according to sporting category. This study group was further subdivided as (Group-B1) runners and (Group-B2) cyclists. Serum iron status were measured and recorded For comparison between two groups, statistical analysis was done by student's unpaired "C test. Mean Iron and Ferritin level were significantly (P<0.001) lower in athletes than those of control group. Within the study group, runner's serum Iron and serum ferritin level were lower than those of group B2. The present study showed that intense physical exercise leading to early stages of iron depletion which might compromise the health and performance of athletes, among them runners were more affected than cyclists.
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