Validity of hydration non-invasive indices during the weightcutting and official weigh-in for Olympic combat sports
Fernández-Elías VE, Martínez-Abellán A, López-Gullón JM, Morán-Navarro R, Pallarés JG, De la Cruz-Sánchez E, Mora-Rodriguez R
PloS one · 38 citations
How it was studied
- Design
- Cross-sectional study (classified by our AI screen)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
Based on full-text disclosure statement.
Publication
- Published
- 2014-04-16 · PLoS One · vol. 9 · issue 4 · p. e95336
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science
- Cited
- 65 citations · more than 90% of similar papers · 2.7× the field average
- References
- 51 works
- Access
- Open access (journal) · CC-BY
- Research areas
- Thermoregulation and physiological responses · Body Composition Measurement Techniques · Exercise and Physiological Responses
- Keywords
- Urine osmolality, Urine specific gravity, Dehydration, Osmole, Urine, Bioelectrical impedance analysis, Urinalysis, Medicine, Animal science, Chemistry, Internal medicine, Biology, Body mass index, Biochemistry
- MeSH
- humans, dehydration, weight loss, urinalysis, thirst, osmolar concentration, sports, boxing, wrestling, adolescent, adult, female, male, athletes
7 authors
From ES
- Valentín E. Fernández-ElíasUniversity of Castilla-La Mancha
- Alberto Martínez-AbellánUniversidad de Murcia
- José María López GullónUniversidad de Murcia
- Ricardo Morán‐NavarroUniversidad de Murcia
- Jesús G. PallarésUniversity of Castilla-La Mancha; Universidad de Murcia
- Ernesto de la Cruz SánchezUniversidad de Murcia
Abstract
Background
In Olympic combat sports, weight cutting is a common practice aimed to take advantage of competing in weight divisions below the athlete's normal weight. Fluid and food restriction in combination with dehydration (sauna and/or exercise induced profuse sweating) are common weight cut methods. However, the resultant hypohydration could adversely affect health and performance outcomes.
Purpose
The aim of this study is to determine which of the routinely used non-invasive measures of dehydration best track urine osmolality, the gold standard non-invasive test.
Method
Immediately prior to the official weigh-in of three National Championships, the hydration status of 345 athletes of Olympic combat sports (i.e., taekwondo, boxing and wrestling) was determined using five separate techniques: i) urine osmolality (UOSM), ii) urine specific gravity (USG), iii) urine color (UCOL), iv) bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), and v) thirst perception scale (TPS). All techniques were correlated with UOSM divided into three groups: euhydrated (G1; UOSM 250-700 mOsm · kg H2O(-1)), dehydrated (G2; UOSM 701-1080 mOsm · kg H2O(-1)), and severely dehydrated (G3; UOSM 1081-1500 mOsm · kg H2O(-1)).
Results
We found a positive high correlation between the UOSM and USG (r = 0.89: p = 0.000), although this relationship lost strength as dehydration increased (G1 r = 0.92; G2 r = 0.73; and G3 r = 0.65; p = 0.000). UCOL showed a moderate although significant correlation when considering the whole sample (r = 0.743: p = 0.000) and G1 (r = 0.702: p = 0.000) but low correlation for the two dehydrated groups (r = 0.498-0.398). TPS and BIA showed very low correlation sizes for all groups assessed.
Conclusion
In a wide range of pre-competitive hydration status (UOSM 250-1500 mOsm · kg H2O(-1)), USG is highly associated with UOSM while being a more affordable and easy to use technique. UCOL is a suitable tool when USG is not available. However, BIA or TPS are not sensitive enough to detect hypohydration at official weight-in before an Olympic combat championship.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY).
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