Promotion of Wellbeing in Women Athletes

The Female Athlete Triad is a medical condition often observed in physically active girls and women, and involves 3 components: (1) low energy availability with or without disordered eating, (2) menstrual dysfunction, and (3) low bone mineral density. An early intervention is essential to prevent its progression to serious endpoints including clinical eating disorders, amenorrhea, and osteoporosis that can affect the quality of life of these patients and even compromise the athletic performance. All patients, aged between 14 and 40 years, who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria, were prospectively enrolled in this observational study and were divided into two groups: Athletes agonists (Experimental Group or Group A) and women who do not perform agonistic sports (Control Group or Group B). In both groups of patients, the investigators administered two types of questionnaires: a standardized quality of Life questionnaire, validated in Italian (SF-12) and a screening questionnaire recommended by the Female Athlete Triad Expert Panel.