ArticleBMJ open sport & exercise medicine2023
Beyond the medals: a cross-sectional study exploring retired elite female athletes' health.
Article in BMJ open sport & exercise medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Considerations of Fertility in Elite Sportswomen: A Narrative Review.BJOG : an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology · 2026Review
- Exceeding the guidelines: A descriptive study of exercise, pregnancy, maternal and neonatal health outcomes in elite and recreational athletes.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2025Article
- Climbing the gap: a review on sex differences in high-level rock climbing.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Review
- Women's rugby as a catalyst for advancing female-specific science and safety in sport.European journal of sport science · 2024Article
- Prevalence of anxiety and depression in former elite athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2024Article
- Hang up your cleats and hope for the best? A cross-sectional study of five health domains in retired elite female rugby players.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2024Article
- Evaluation of a medical after-care intervention among deselected elite male Academy football players: a pilot study.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2024Article
- Self-reported reproductive health of retired elite women's footballers: a cross-sectional study.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2024Article
- Beach Sprints Rowing: Injury and Illness Prevalence at the 2022 World Championships.BMJ open sport & exercise medicine · 2024Article
- Adaptation to life after sport for retired athletes: A scoping review of existing reviews and programs.PloS one · 2023Article
- Two steps forward, one step back: What research progressions have been made to support the advancement of health and performance in pregnant international and world-class sportswomen since 2016? A scoping review.Women's health (London, England)Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objectives: Little is known about the impact of elite sport participation on long-term athlete health. We aimed to: (1) describe musculoskeletal, mental health, reproductive/endocrine and cardiovascular characteristics in retired elite female athletes and compare to the general population and (2) explore athletes' perceptions of their elite sport participation and its impact on health. Methods: A 136-item online questionnaire was disseminated to Canadian elite female rowing and rugby athletes >18 years old, >2 years retired from elite competition. Matched general population data were obtained from Statistics Canada when available. Results: Seventy-four (24% response rate) athletes (average age 45 (±9) years; retired 15 (±9) years) completed the questionnaire (30 rowing, 44 rugby athletes). During their career, 63 athletes (85%) experienced a hip/groin, knee, foot/ankle injury, or low back pain, with 42 (67%) reporting ongoing symptoms. Athletes 35-54 years reported worse knee symptoms and quality of life compared with the general population (symptom: p=0.197; d=1.15 [0.66, 1.63]; quality of life: p=0.312 d=1.03 [0.54, 1.51]) while other hip, knee and foot/ankle outcome scores were similar. Retired athletes had lower odds of anxiety (OR=0.155 [95% CI0.062 to 0.384]), greater lifetime/ever odds of amenorrhea (OR=6.10 [95%CI 2.67 to 13.96]) and gave birth when older (p<0.05). Fifty-nine (79%) recalled witnessing or experiencing at least one form of harassment/abuse during their career. Sixty athletes (81%) rated their current health as above average or excellent and 61 (82%) would compete at the same level again if given the choice. Conclusion: These novel insights can inform future preventative efforts to promote positive elite sport-related outcomes for current, former and future female athletes.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.