The role of somatic maturation on bioimpedance patterns and body composition in male elite youth soccer players

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of chronological age (CA) and somatic maturation on body composition (BC) and bioimpedance parameters in male elite soccer players. BC and bioimpedance variables were measured in a sample of 249 players aged 9 1218 years of age and registered in two professional Italian soccer teams. Results from segmental analysis showed transition time points where the influence of CA and somatic maturation on bioimpedance patterns and BC characteristics increased or subsided. The accelerated phases were assessed for fat free mass, total body water, and upper muscle area, with a starting time point at approximately 122.00 years from peak at velocity (YPHV), and for body cell mass, whose developmental tempo sped up around 121.00 YPHV. An increase in the rate of development was also observed close to 122.00 YPHV for phase angle (PA), although without accelerated phases. From a CA point of view, significant slope changes were found for all BC and bioimpendance variables, except for the calf muscle area. Although the starting points and the span of the accelerated phases were different, they subsided or disappeared at ~15 years, except for PA, whose growth waned at ~17 years

Body fat assessment in international elite soccer referees

Soccer referees are a specific group in the sports population that are receiving increasing attention from sports scientists. A lower fat mass percentage (FM%) is a useful parameter to monitor fitness status and aerobic performance, while being able to evaluate it with a simple and quick field-based method can allow a regular assessment. The aim of this study was to provide a specific profile for referees based on morphological and body composition features while comparing the accuracy of different skinfold-based equations in estimating FM% in a cohort of soccer referees. Forty-three elite international soccer referees (age 38.8 ± 3.6 years), who participated in the 2018 Russian World Cup, underwent body composition assessments with skinfold thickness and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Six equations used to derive FM% from skinfold thickness were compared with DXA measurements. The percentage of body fat estimated using DXA was 18.2 ± 4.1%, whereas skinfold-based FM% assessed from the six formulas ranged between 11.0% ± 1.7% to 15.6% ± 2.4%. Among the six equations considered, the Faulkner's formula showed the highest correlation with FM% estimated by DXA (r = 0.77; R2 = 0.59 p < 0.001). Additionally, a new skinfold-based equation was developed: FM% = 8.386 + (0.478 × iliac crest skinfold) + (0.395 × abdominal skinfold, r = 0.78; R2 = 0.61; standard error of the estimate (SEE) = 2.62 %; p < 0.001). Due to these findings, national and international federations will now be able to perform regular body composition assessments using skinfold measurements. (c) 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Reference Percentiles for Bioelectrical Phase Angle in Athletes

The present study aimed to develop reference values for bioelectrical phase angle in male and female athletes from different sports. Overall, 2224 subjects participated in this study [1658 males (age 26.2±8.9 y) and 566 females (age 26.9±6.6 y)]. Participants were categorized by their sport discipline and sorted into three different sport modalities: Endurance, velocity/power, and team sports. Phase angle was directly measured using a foot-to-hand bioimpedance technology at a 50 kHz frequency during the in-season period. Reference percentiles (5th, 15th, 50th, 85th, and 95th) were calculated and stratified by sex, sport discipline and modality using an empirical Bayesian analysis. This method allows for the sharing of information between different groups, creating reference percentiles, even for sports disciplines with few observations. Phase angle differed (men: P&lt;0.001; women: P=0.003) among the three sport modalities, where endurance athletes showed a lower value than the other groups (men: Vs. velocity/power: P=0.010, 95% CI=−0.43 to −0.04; vs. team sports: P &lt; 0.001, 95% CI=−0.48 to −0.02; women: Vs. velocity/power: P=0.002, 95% CI=−0.59 to −0.10; vs. team sports: P=0.015, 95% CI=−0.52 to−0.04). Male athletes showed a higher phase angle than female athletes within each sport modality (endurance: p&lt;0.01, 95% CI=0.63 to 1.14; velocity/power: P&lt;0.01, 95% CI=0.68 to 1.07; team sports: P&lt;0.01, 95% CI=0.98 to 1.23). We derived phase angle reference percentiles for endurance, velocity/power, and team sports athletes. Additionally, we calculated sex-specific references for a total of 22 and 19 sport disciplines for male and female athletes, respectively. This study provides sex and sport-specific percentiles for phase angle that can track body composition and performance-related parameters in athletes

Pain and Frailty in Hospitalized Older Adults

Introduction: Pain and frailty are prevalent conditions in the older population. Many chronic diseases are likely involved in their origin, and both have a negative impact on quality of life. However, few studies have analysed their association. Methods: In light of this knowledge gap, 3577 acutely hospitalized patients 65&nbsp;years or older enrolled in the REPOSI register, an Italian network of internal medicine and geriatric hospital wards, were assessed to calculate the frailty index (FI). The impact of pain and some of its characteristics on the degree of frailty was evaluated using an ordinal logistic regression model after adjusting for age and gender. Results: The prevalence of pain was 24.7%, and among patients with pain, 42.9% was regarded as chronic pain. Chronic pain was associated with severe frailty (OR = 1.69, 95% CI 1.38–2.07). Somatic pain (OR = 1.59, 95% CI 1.23–2.07) and widespread pain (OR = 1.60, 95% CI 0.93–2.78) were associated with frailty. Osteoarthritis was the most common cause of chronic pain, diagnosed in 157 patients (33.5%). Polymyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis and other musculoskeletal diseases causing chronic pain were associated with a lower degree of frailty than osteoarthritis (OR = 0.49, 95%CI 0.28–0.85). Conclusions: Chronic and somatic pain negatively affect the degree of frailty. The duration and type of pain, as well as the underlying diseases associated with chronic pain, should be evaluated to improve the hospital management of frail older people

The multifaceted spectrum of liver cirrhosis in older hospitalised patients: Analysis of the REPOSI registry

Background: Knowledge on the main clinical and prognostic characteristics of older multimorbid subjects with liver cirrhosis (LC) admitted to acute medical wards is scarce. Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of LC among older patients admitted to acute medical wards and to assess the main clinical characteristics of LC along with its association with major clinical outcomes and to explore the possibility that well-distinguished phenotypic profiles of LC have classificatory and prognostic properties. Methods: A cohort of 6,193 older subjects hospitalised between 2010 and 2018 and included in the REPOSI registry was analysed. Results: LC was diagnosed in 315 patients (5%). LC was associated with rehospitalisation (age-sex adjusted hazard ratio, [aHR] 1.44; 95% CI, 1.10-1.88) and with mortality after discharge, independently of all confounders (multiple aHR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.37-3.22), but not with in-hospital mortality and incident disability. Three main clinical phenotypes of LC patients were recognised: relatively fit subjects (FIT, N = 150), subjects characterised by poor social support (PSS, N = 89) and, finally, subjects with disability and multimorbidity (D&amp;M, N = 76). PSS subjects had an increased incident disability (35% vs 13%, P &lt; 0.05) compared to FIT. D&amp;M patients had a higher mortality (in-hospital: 12% vs 3%/1%, P &lt; 0.01; post-discharge: 41% vs 12%/15%, P &lt; 0.01) and less rehospitalisation (10% vs 32%/34%, P &lt; 0.01) compared to PSS and FIT. Conclusions: LC has a relatively low prevalence in older hospitalised subjects but, when present, accounts for worse post-discharge outcomes. Phenotypic analysis unravelled the heterogeneity of LC older population and the association of selected phenotypes with different clinical and prognostic features