TABLE 4.
Demographic characteristics of the athletes’ competitive levels. Top-elite: Olympic games, World championships, and/or European championships. Elite: other international competitions, Swedish or Norwegian championships, the highest national league. Sub-elite: the next highest national league, and district competitions.
| Characteristic | Top-elite (n = 158) | Elite (n = 393) | Sub-elite (n = 535) | p-value | Effect size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age in years, mean (SD) | 26.7 (6.2) a | 22.8 (5.8) a | 24.4 (7.5) a | <0.001 | d = 0.03 |
| Body mass index, kg/m2, mean (SD) | 22.6 (2.6) | 22.9 (2.7) | 23.6 (3.0) a | <0.001 | d = 0.02 |
| Average training, hours/week, mean (SD) | 16.6 (7.8) a | 11.1 (4.5) a | 8.1 (3.6) a | <0.001 | d = 0.27 |
| History of secondary amenorrhea, n (%) | 70 (44) | 165 (42) | 197 (37) | 0.129 | w = 0.06 |
| Non-users of HCs, n (%) | 71 (45) | 160 (41) | 178 (33) a | 0.009 | w = 0.09 |
| Regular menstrual bleeding | 57 (80) | 111 (69) a | 137 (77) | 0.036 | w = 0.08 |
| Current secondary amenorrhea | 7 (10) | 20 (13) | 13 (7) | 0.090 | w = 0.07 |
| Dysmenorrhea | 50 (71) | 116 (73) | 135 (76) | 0.174 | w = 0.06 |
| Users of HCs, n (%) | 87 (55) | 233 (59) | 357 (67) a | 0.009 | w = 0.09 |
| Progestins only | 46 (53) | 117 (50) | 191 (54) | 0.098 | w = 0.07 |
| Combined HCs | 41 (47) | 116 (50) | 166 (46) | 0.468 | w = 0.04 |
| Dysmenorrhea | 49 (56) | 148 (64) | 243 (68) a | 0.002 | w = 0.11 |
a
Significant difference as indicated by the Tukey post-hoc test for ANOVA, and by residuals and Bonferroni corrections for the Chi-squared test. The effect sizes were calculated utilizing the Eta-squared and Cohen´s D tests.