THE EFFECT OF ATHLETIC CAREER ON BONE MINERAL DENSITY AMONG FORMER GREEK MALE SOCCER PLAYERS by Dr. Eleni Marmara given during the 9th European Congress on Menopause and Andropause powered by - MULTIWEBCAST

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Objectives: A number of studies have shown a greater Bone Mineral Density (BMD) in athletes compared to sedentary population. The aim of the present study was to investigate if a BMD advantage is retained after the termination of soccer career.
Materials and methods: 41 male former soccer players (age 53-61 years) representing five teams of national level were compared to non-athletic controls (n=40). Former players had ended their careers approximately 22 years preceding the study. Body composition and total body, lumbar spine and femur BMD were measured using dual-energy X-ray absorpsiometry among all participants. Participants also filled in a questionnaire to specify their current level of physical activity (Kriska et al., 2007). For the statistical analyses, the students\' t - test, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) adjusting for age, weight and BMI and the Mann-Whitney U-test were used. Statistical significance was set at the 0.05 level.
Results: Soccer players had significantly greater BMD than controls at all sites measured. Greater differences were observed at the proximal femur sited (9.7-10.3%) than at the lumbar spine (3.6%) or for the total body (2.1%). No BMD differences were observed between teams representing different types of training. Former soccer players had retained their proximal femur and total-body BMD advantage over matched controls.
Conclusions: Soccer has a positive effect on BMD and this advantage is retained to an extent after the termination of the athletes\' career. Thus, a positive effect on future fracture risk can be expected.

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