Peri-/postmenopausal transition in female athletes: a scoping review protocol
Creators: name: Dorste, Anna
name: Ackerman, Kathryn
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Sports Medicine
subject: Medicine and Health Sciences
subject: Medical Specialties
subject: athletes
subject: menopause
subject: perimenopause
subject: postmenopause
subject: sports medicine
subject: sports science

description: BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: As increasing numbers of female athletes enter and undergo the menopause, there lacks research investigating this population and clinical care to support their needs. To address the paucity of inquiry, an international team of field-leading clinicians and researchers have developed a scoping review protocol aiming to capture the quantity and quality of the research relevant to the health, training, and performance of the peri- and post-menopausal athlete, as well as establish knowledge gaps that urgently demand investigation in order for clinicians and coaches to better serve this population. METHODS: The authors developed a scoping review protocol following the six-step Arksey and O’Malley framework. The protocol will be registered through the Open Science Framework (OSF). The protocol will result in a scoping review on the landscape of research exploring the impacts of menopause on female athletes following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). [please see below for information selection methods] RESULTS: The authors conducted a limited search of the literature on PubMed and Google Scholar to identify key themes and knowledge gaps, and to curate keywords. This work informed our question: how does menopause impact the female athlete? The authors determined a priori inclusion and exclusion criteria to best answer the question in the relevant population, including defining “athlete” using a recently published tiering system (McKay et al., 2021) and requiring studies measure outcomes associated with training/competition aims (strength, endurance, power, frequency) and health-related outcomes (including injury/rehab). The search strategy was applied to CINAHL, Embase, Google Scholar, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Web of Science and collected 10,882 articles. CONCLUSION &amp; IMPLICATIONS: This scoping review protocol was designed using gold standard methodology to critically consider all published research on the impacts of menopause on the female athlete. Currently, there are no published reviews of the literature investigating the peri-/postmenopausal athlete. The scoping review that results from the protocol will be the first in the field and will inform sports medicine and sports science research in this increasing population going forward. Supported by the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance funding. Information Selection Methods: Information Sources: PubMed, Embase, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PsycINFO, Web of Science Core Collection, Google Scholar. Sample Search Strategy (PubMed): ((Menopause[mesh] OR menopause[tiab] OR menopausal[tiab] OR climacterium[tiab] OR estrogen[tiab] OR progesterone[tiab] OR perimenopause[tiab] OR perimenopausal[tiab] OR postmenopause[tiab] OR postmenopausal[tiab] OR peri-menopause[tiab] OR peri-menopausal[tiab] OR post-menopause[tiab] OR post-menopausal[tiab] OR estradiol[tiab] OR progestin[tiab]) AND (Exercise[mesh] OR "Resistance Training"[mesh] OR "Weight Lifting"[mesh] OR "High-Intensity Interval Training"[mesh] OR perform[tiab] OR performance[tiab] OR endurance[tiab] OR strength[tiab] OR power[tiab] OR train[tiab] OR training[tiab] OR trainings[tiab] OR trained[tiab] OR recover[tiab] OR recovery[tiab] OR recoveries[tiab] OR recovered[tiab] OR "physical activity"[tiab] OR "physical activities"[tiab] OR "physical conditioning"[tiab] OR cardiorespiratory[tiab] OR respiratory[tiab] OR balance[tiab] OR balancing[tiab] OR muscle[tiab] OR muscular[tiab] OR muscles[tiab] OR fatigue[tiab] OR sarcopenia[tiab] OR sarcopenic[tiab] OR sedentary[tiab] OR tire[tiab] OR tired[tiab] OR tiring[tiab] OR sore[tiab] OR soreness[tiab] OR aerobic[tiab] OR oxygen[tiab] OR O2[tiab] OR VO2[tiab])) AND (Athletes[mesh] OR Sports[mesh] OR athlete[tiab] OR athletes[tiab] OR athletics[tiab] OR athletics[tiab] OR sport[tiab] OR sports[tiab] OR para-athlete[tiab] OR para-athletes[tiab] OR para-athletics[tiab] OR players[tiab] OR players[tiab] OR skiing[tiab] OR skier[tiab] OR skiers[tiab] OR ski[tiab] OR softball[tiab] OR basketball[tiab] OR cycling[tiab] OR cyclist[tiab] OR cyclists[tiab] OR bicycle[tiab] OR bicycling[tiab] OR boxing[tiab] OR boxer[tiab] OR boxers[tiab] OR soccer[tiab] OR golf[tiab] OR golfer[tiab] OR golfers[tiab] OR gymnast[tiab] OR gymnasts[tiab] OR gymnastic[tiab] OR gymnastics[tiab] OR hockey[tiab] OR "martial art"[tiab] OR "martial arts"[tiab] OR "tai ji"[tiab] OR judo[tiab] OR karate[tiab] OR jujitsu[tiab] OR "tae kwon do"[tiab] OR aikido[tiab] OR wushu[tiab] OR "kung fu"[tiab] OR "gong fu"[tiab] OR gongfu[tiab] OR wrestling[tiab] OR wrestler[tiab] OR wrestlers[tiab] OR mountaineer[tiab] OR mountaineers[tiab] OR mountaineering[tiab] OR rockclimber[tiab] OR rockclimbers[tiab] OR rockclimbing[tiab] OR "rock climber"[tiab] OR "rock climbers"[tiab] OR "rock climbing"[tiab] OR tennis[tiab] OR runner[tiab] OR runners[tiab] OR running[tiab] OR marathon[tiab] OR marathons[tiab] OR marathoner[tiab] OR marathoners[tiab] OR ultramarathon[tiab] OR ultramarathons[tiab] OR ultramarathoner[tiab] OR ultramarathoners[tiab] OR "ultra marathon"[tiab] OR "ultra marathons"[tiab] OR "ultra marathoner"[tiab] OR "ultra marathoners"[tiab] OR skating[tiab] OR "figure skating"[tiab] OR "figure skater"[tiab] OR "figure skaters"[tiab] OR "track and field"[tiab] OR volleyball[tiab] OR swim[tiab] OR swimming[tiab] OR swimmer[tiab] OR swimmers[tiab] OR "weight lifting"[tiab] OR "weight lifter"[tiab] OR "weight lifters"[tiab] OR "body building"[tiab] OR "body builder"[tiab] OR "body builders"[tiab] OR triathlete[tiab] OR triathletes[tiab] OR triathlon[tiab] OR triathlons[tiab] OR fencing[tiab] OR fencer[tiab] OR fencers[tiab]) A priori eligibility criteria: Inclusion: From any year, location, setting - any language - All abilities Female for sex assigned at birth, and no testosterone or other male-hormone interventions - Participants must be identified as peri-/postmenopausal *Sample populations MUST meet tier 2 criteria at a minimum for “athlete” per McKay et al, under review * - Sources include primary, grey literature (unpublished ongoing trials, annual reports, dissertations, conference proceedings) - Both outcomes associated with training/competition aims (strength, endurance, power, frequency) and health-related outcomes (including injury/rehab) - Study population consists of female humans Exclusion: - Opinion pieces, magazine or newspaper articles, reviews, scoping reviews, guidelines - Research articles that do not investigate measures relevant to training/competition aims of an athlete - Research articles with a sedentary sample - Health/safety of aging in general, of male athletes - Study population consisting of non-human animals Reviewers will use Covidence systematic review software to systematically review all results from the above databases after deduplication (10,882 citations).