Does maternity during sports career jeopardize future athletic success in elite marathon runners?

The impact of maternity (Mat) on subsequent athletic performance is not well known. This study aims to investigate the impact of maternity among elite marathoners on their overall performance progression. For each runner listed in the top 150 female marathoners, who had experienced a mid-career maternity, performance development was reconstituted throughout the career. Maternity data and career break time span (T_total) were collected from publicly available informations. Performances were modelled according to the known age-performance relationship and the impact of maternity was added into the model. Linear mixed effect model was used to study the influence of maternity on the overall career. Among this sample, 37 runners had at least 1 child during her career. Among them, 14 had 2 children. Eleven runners (29.72%) made their personal best performance before Mat, which occurred at an average age of 28.40 ± 4.00 years. Twenty-six runners (70.28%) establish their best performances after Mat, at an average age of 32.20 ± 4.28. The age-performance relationship model explains 92% of the performance variability during the career's progression. When age is considered, maternity does not have significant impact on performance development. World's most competitive marathoners can still perform at their best level after pregnancy. The ability to return and surpass previous performance level is influenced by the age at which pregnancy occurs, relative to the age of peak performance during career development.Highlights Mid-career maternity does not have a significant impact on overall progression in high level runners, who return to official races.The ability to return and surpass previous performance level is influenced by the age at which pregnancy occurs, relative to the age of peak performance.Age is the variable that explains most of performance progression, independently of mid-career maternity occurrence(s).

[Risk of intensive practice in sportswomen]

Risk of intensive practice in sportswomen. Intensive sports practice in women exposes to specific risks, depending on the sport, such as the athlete triad, the increased risk of stress fracture, and lastly the perineal dysfunction. Risk factor screening including the relativ energy deficiency in sport, the sub clinical menstrual disturbances and a special vigilance ahead of perineal constrained sports help preserve the sportswoman's health. The search for performance and the intensive practice do not exclude that the sportswoman can integrate the pregnancy project into her life, with several adaptations in intensity, duration and frequency of sessions to promote maternity without maternal or fetal risk, and a calm recovery in the post-partum period. Sharing the information with the sportswoman and her environment is essential to reassure and to implement a comprehensive prevention strategy with her.

[Relation between physical activity, weight balance and breast cancer]

Many epidemiologic studies, with a good methodology, support the evidence of the positive role of regular physical activity on primary and tertiary prevention of breast cancer on the risk of recurrence and mortality. This relation depends on the level of total energy expenditure by week, which helps balance weight on lifetime, an essential part of benefit. The beneficial effects of physical activity are linked to many interrelated additional mechanisms: in a short-term, contraction of skeletal muscles involves aerobic metabolism which utilizes glucose and amino acids like glutamine, improves insulin sensitivity and lowers plasma insulin; in a long-term, physical activity produces favorable changes in body composition, decreasing body fat and increasing lean mass. That is a key point to reduce the intake of energy substrates stimulating carcinogenesis, to improve insulin sensitivity, to change the ratio of leptin and adiponectin, to enhance cellular immunity and to block cellular pathways of cell proliferation and angiogenesis. Maintaining a healthy weight through regular physical activity well balanced with energy intake is it a goal for prevention of breast cancer.

Relationship between alcohol and tobacco dependencies among alcoholics who smoke

Outpatients followed in an alcoholic clinic and who fulfilled DSM-III-R criteria for alcohol dependence and had used both tobacco (at least one cigarette every day) and alcohol in the preceding week were studied. For each patient, two experimenters assessed: (1) the amount of tobacco and alcohol used; (2) the severity of dependence for each product. Results showed that: (a) The prevalence of smoking in this population of current alcohol dependents was 88%; (b) 91.6% of this sample of smoker alcoholics were dependent on nicotine; (c) the amount of tobacco smoked was correlated to the amount of alcohol consumed and the severity of alcohol dependence; and (d) there was a correlation between the severity of alcohol and nicotine dependencies. The results of this study may help to clarify the difficulty of treating tobacco dependence in alcoholics.

Relationship between alcohol and tobacco dependencies among alcoholics who smoke

Outpatients followed in an alcoholic clinic and who fulfilled DSM-III-R criteria for alcohol dependence and had used both tobacco (at least one cigarette every day) and alcohol in the preceding week were studied. For each patient, two experimenters assessed: (1) the amount of tobacco and alcohol used; (2) the severity of dependence for each product. Results showed that: (a) The prevalence of smoking in this population of current alcohol dependents was 88%; (b) 91.6% of this sample of smoker alcoholics were dependent on nicotine; (c) the amount of tobacco smoked was correlated to the amount of alcohol consumed and the severity of alcohol dependence; and (d) there was a correlation between the severity of alcohol and nicotine dependencies. The results of this study may help to clarify the difficulty of treating tobacco dependence in alcoholics.