Is Osteoporosis and Osteopenia a Health Risk in Professional Cyclists of Iran and Tour-de-France?

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences between femoral neck and lumbar vertebral bone mineral density (BMD) of Iranian and Tour-de-France professional cyclists with non-athletes. This investigation was in the form of a comparative and a cause-effect study, 17 professional cyclists having participated in Iran’s first class cycling competitions [age (23.52±0.87 yr), height (174.94±2.81 cm), weight (73.12±3.17 kg), cycling participation background (5±2.2 yr)], 20 professional cyclists of Tour-de-France [with age (27.20±3.73 yr), height (180.05±7.45 cm), weight (71.50±5.21 kg), cycling participation background (9±3.2 yr)] and 17 healthy non-athletes participants [age (22.94±1.40 yr), height (172.65±2.40 cm) and weight (71.27±3.39 kg)] took part in this study. Data were collected using the mineral density assessing device Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DXA). A medical history was also filled out by a specialist physician. In this research mineral density of femoral neck and second to fourth lumbar vertebral was evaluated. Data analysis included descriptive and inferential (One-way ANOVA) statistical methods (p≤0/05) using SPSS software (version 16). The obtained results in this study showed that there is significant difference between lumbar vertebral BMD of the participants (F=17.89, P=0.001). But there was no significant difference between the femoral neck BMD of the participants (F=0.68, P=0.511). Discussion and The results indicated that there is no significant difference between femoral neck BMD of Iranian and France Tour cyclists comparing to non-athletes; while BMD of lumbar vertebral was significantly different among the participants. Based on the results, 50% of Tour-de-France cyclists and 17.6% of Iranian cyclists had Osteopenia. Non-athletes had normal BMD. Totally, none of the participants had Osteoporosis. In order to avoid Osteoporosis and Osteopenia during middle and old age, professional cyclists should practice other sport activities such as weight-bearing-exercise to improve their BMD.