Effects of nutritional and hydration strategies during ultramarathon events between finishers and non-finishers: A systematic review protocol

Ultramarathon running is a sport that is growing in popularity. Competing in an ultramarathon event is physiologically taxing on the human body, and it should not be surprising that not all individuals who enroll for an event ultimately finish. While many factors can contribute to this phenomenon, it is likely that nutritional and hydration strategies play a large role between finishing and not finishing an ultramarathon. No published paper has systematically reviewed the effects of nutritional and hydration strategies during ultramarathon events between finishers and non-finishers. This paper details our intended protocol with the following steps that create the flow of the systematic review: 1) Determine the review question and Participant, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome, Study Design (PICOS) criteria; 2) Create inclusion and exclusion criteria; 3) Create and follow a search strategy; 4) Document sources that are included and excluded according to the pre-determined eligibility criteria; 5) Assess final sources for risk of bias; 6) Extract pertinent data from final full-text articles and synthesize the information; and 7) Disseminate findings of the systematic review.