MON-LB311 Clinical Guidelines for the Research on the Endocrinology of Physical Activity and Sport

Background: The importance of physical activity has achieved levels that has been recognized by as a major world public health game changer, which positively engaged a growing number of subjects to become physically active. While effects of exercise on cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems are well described, little is known regarding hormonal adapted physiology in athletes, as well as how to detect and manage endocrine abnormalities in physically active subjects. Methodological issues and inconsistent findings precluded from a structured understanding of the endocrinology physiology of physical activity and sport. The objective of the present guideline is to uniformize the design and assessment methods of further studies in the field, based on standardized hormonal and metabolic parameters, and dynamic testings. Methods: Guidelines were actively searched within endocrinology, sports medicine, and cardiology societies. Systematic search on PubMed and Cochrane databases for the expressions “(name of the parameter or test)” + “exercise” or “athlete(s)” or “sport(s)” or “validation” or “standardization. Guidelines, consensus, statements, original studies, and reviews that standardized, validated, or proposed parameters and tests that could be potentially employed for the research on physical activity and sport were included.Results: Parameters of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG), hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA), growth hormone-insulin-like growth factor-1 (GH-IGF1), and hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axes, prolactin, renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS), catecholamines and adrenal medulla, bone, water, glucose, and lipid metabolism, and adipose tissue and muscle endocrine profile were analyzed and classified according to the level of standardization, feasibility, and potential roles in physical activity and sport, and recommended accordingly. Recommendations on the characterization of the studied population, including eating, sleeping, social, psychological, and training patterns were depicted. Conclusion: The research on the endocrinology of physical activity and sport requires standardization and uniformization regarding the description of baseline and training characteristics, and which parameters and tests should be employed. These improvements will allow the development of a more structured and comprehensive knowledge on the field, based on comparative joint analyses of further researches, that should employ well-established parameters and adequately controlled for confounding variables.