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Is competitive swimming training a risk factor for osteoporosis? A systematic review of the literature and quality of evidence

Ist das Leistungsschwimmtraining ein Risikofaktor für Osteoporose? Ein systematischer Review der Literatur und Evidenzqualität

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Abstract

Introduction

Due to the controversy regarding bone health in swimmers compared to weight-bearing athletes, the aim of this work was to comprehensively analyze the effect of swimming on bone mass, cortical geometry, and trabecular microarchitecture as well as to assess the methodological quality of the available evidence.

Methods

A systematic literature search was conducted on PubMed and Scopus following the PICOS (Participants, Interventions, Comparators, Outcome and Study) strategy and the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. Forty-one studies were included and screened with Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies for determining their quality of evidence.

Results

Swimmers’ bone mass tended to be lower compared to athletes engaged in high-impact sports, but similar compared to moderate- and non-impact sports as well as non-athletes, independently of gender and anatomical region assessed. Swimmers’ cortical geometry and trabecular microarchitecture tended to be similar to that of both athletes, independently of their impact loading profile, and non-athletes. Results were, nevertheless, based on studies with only a poor to fair quality of evidence, with most of them displaying a serious risk of bias.

Conclusions

No high-quality evidence was found suggesting that swimmers could be a population at risk of developing osteopenia or osteoporosis later in life. There is no evidence that swimming negatively compromises bone mass accrual, cortical bone geometry, or trabecular microarchitecture.

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Funding

The Research Center in Physical Activity, Health and Leisure (CIAFEL) and the Laboratory for Integrative and Translational Research in Population Health (ITR) are funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) through grants FCT UID/DTP/00617/2020 and LA/P/0064/2020, respectively. The first author is supported by an FCT PhD grant (SFRH/BD/145211/2019).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center in Physical Activity, Health and Leisure (CIAFEL), Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Plácido Costa 91, 4200-450, Porto, Portugal

    Laura Freitas, Andrea Bezerra, José Duarte & Hélder Fonseca

  2. Laboratory for Integrative and Translational Research in Population Health (ITR), Porto, Portugal

    Laura Freitas, Andrea Bezerra, José Duarte & Hélder Fonseca

  3. Fame Laboratory, Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, University of Thessaly, Trikala, Greece

    Tânia Amorim

  4. Centre of Research, Education, Innovation and Intervention in Sport, Faculty of Sport, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Ricardo J. Fernandes

  5. Porto Biomechanics Laboratory, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Ricardo J. Fernandes

  6. TOXRUN—Toxicology Research Unit, University Institute of Health Sciences, CESPU, CRL, Gandra, Portugal

    José Duarte

Authors
  1. Laura Freitas
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  2. Andrea Bezerra
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  3. Tânia Amorim
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  4. Ricardo J. Fernandes
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  5. José Duarte
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  6. Hélder Fonseca
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Laura Freitas, Andrea Bezerra, Tânia Amorim, Ricardo Jorge Fernandes, José Duarte and Hélder Fonseca.; literature search: Laura Freitas; Andrea Bezerra; data analysis, Laura Freitas, Andrea Bezerra and Hélder Fonseca; writing—original draft preparation, Laura Freitas; writing—review and editing: Laura Freitas, Andrea Bezerra, Tânia Amorim, Ricardo Jorge Fernandes, José Duarte and Hélder Fonseca; supervision: Tânia Amorim, Ricardo Jorge Fernandes, José Duarte and Hélder Fonseca; funding acquisition: Laura Freitas and Hélder Fonseca. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Laura Freitas.

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Conflict of interest

L. Freitas, A. Bezerra, T. Amorim, R.J. Fernandes, J. Duarte and H. Fonseca declare that they have no competing interests.

For this article no studies with human participants or animals were performed by any of the authors. All studies mentioned were in accordance with the ethical standards indicated in each case.

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Freitas, L., Bezerra, A., Amorim, T. et al. Is competitive swimming training a risk factor for osteoporosis? A systematic review of the literature and quality of evidence. Ger J Exerc Sport Res 53, 232–242 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12662-022-00849-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12662-022-00849-4

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