QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Brutsaert, T. D. Articles by Vitzthum, V. J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Brutsaert, T. D. Articles by Vitzthum, V. J.

The Journal of Experimental Biology 205, 233-239 (2002)
© 2002 The Company of Biologists Limited

Effect of menstrual cycle phase on exercise performance of high-altitude native women at 3600 m

Tom D. Brutsaert¹, Hilde Spielvogel², Esperanza Caceres², Mauricio Araoz², Robert T. Chatterton³ and Virginia J. Vitzthum⁴

¹ Department of Anthropology, The University at Albany, State University of New York, 12222, USA,
² Instituto Boliviano de Biología de Altura, La Paz, Bolivia,
³ Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois, USA and
⁴ Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, State University of New York, 13901, USA

*Author for correspondence (e-mail: tbrutsae{at}csc.albany.edu)

Accepted 30 October 2001

At sea level normally menstruating women show increased ventilation (E) and hemodynamic changes due to increased progesterone (P) and estrogen (E2) levels during the mid-luteal (L) compared to the mid-follicular (F) phase of the ovarian cycle. Such changes may affect maximal exercise performance. This repeated-measures, randomized study, conducted at 3600 m, tests the hypothesis that a P-mediated increase in E increases maximal oxygen consumption (_O2max) during the L phase relative to the F phase in Bolivian women, either born and raised at high altitude (HA), or resident at HA since early childhood. Subjects (N=30) enrolled in the study were aged 27.7±0.7 years (mean ± S.E.M.) and non-pregnant, non-lactating, relatively sedentary residents of La Paz, Bolivia, who were not using hormonal contraceptives. Mean salivary P levels at the time of the exercise tests were 63.3 pg ml^–1 and 22.9 pg ml^–1 for the L and F phases, respectively. Subset analyses of submaximal (N=23) and maximal (N=13) exercise responses were conducted only with women showing increased P levels from F to L and, in the latter case, with those also achieving true _O2max. Submaximal exercise E and ventilatory equivalents were higher in the L phase (P<0.001). P levels were significantly correlated to the submaximal exercise E (r=0.487, P=0.006). Maximal work output (W) was higher (approximately 5 %) during the L phase (P=0.044), but _O2max (l min^–1) was unchanged (P=0.063). Post-hoc analyses revealed no significant relationship between changes in P levels and changes in _O2max from F to L (P=0.072). In sum, the menstrual cycle phase has relatively modest effects on ventilation, but no effect on _O2max of HA native women.

Key words: progesterone, _O2max, luteal, follicular, ovarian cycle, woman.