Disaggregating the influence of maturity status on training, anthropometric, performance, skeletal periphery, and hormonal factors in athletic boys

Title
Disaggregating the influence of maturity status on training, anthropometric, performance, skeletal periphery, and hormonal factors in athletic boys
Publication Date
2024
Author(s)
Crewther, Blair T
Pastuszak, Anna
Cook, Christian J
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9677-0306
Email: ccook29@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:ccook29
Staniak, Zbigniew
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Elsevier Inc
Place of publication
United States of America
DOI
10.1016/j.physbeh.2024.114502
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/59317
Abstract

Maturity offset (i.e., age from peak height velocity [PHV]) is widely used to assess maturational status among youth athletes, but details on the skeletal periphery, hormones and training factors are lacking. More precision is also needed to explicate the timing, tempo, and sequence of growth-related events. These gaps were addressed in a cross-sectional study. One hundred and two athletic boys (aged 14.1 ± 0.5 years) were evaluated for training details, salivary testosterone and cortisol, height, body mass, body mass index, body fat, fat-free mass (FFM), hand and carpal bone area, bone mineral content (BMC) and density (BMD), and countermovement jump performance. Participants were assigned to circa-PHV (N = 56) and post-PHV (N = 46) groups for comparisons, before data pooling and disaggregation using generalized additive and linear regression models. The older postPHV group had a larger body size, more testosterone, and better performance and skeletal outcomes, whilst weekly training and school-based exercise favored the younger circa-PHV group (all p < 0.001). Smoother plots verified these differences via linear, or weakly non-linear, associations. Maturity offset was predicted (R2 = 0.848) by the linear combination of FFM (42.0 % relative contribution), hand BMD (31.5 %), chronological age (16.0 %), testosterone (6.7 %), and training hours (3.8 %). In conclusion, athletic boys who presented at different stages of maturity (-0.98 to 2.84 years from PHV) also differed on many developmental features. Most variables increased at constant, or near-constant, tempo with a higher maturity offset, with FFM and hand BMD emerging as the strongest linear predictors of maturational status.

Link
Citation
Physiology & behavior, v.278, p. 1-7
ISSN
1873-507X
0031-9384
Start page
1
End page
7
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International

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