Effect of menstrual cycle and contraceptive pill phase on aspects of exercise physiology and athletic performance in female athletes: protocol for the

Authors

Kirsty J Elliott Sale
Tessa R Flood
Shawn M Arent
Eimear Dolan
Bryan Saunders
Mette Hansen
Johanna K Ihalainen
Ritva S Mikkonen
Clare Minahan
Jane S Thornton
Kathryn E Ackerman
Constance M Lebrun
Craig Sale
Trent Stellingwerff
Paul A Swinton
Anthony C Hackney

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-24-2023

Journal

BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine

Volume

9

Issue

4

First Page

001814

Last Page

001814

URL with Digital Object Identifier

DOI: 10.1136/bmjsem-2023-001814

Abstract

The idiom 'more high-quality research is needed' has become the slogan for sport and exercise physiology-based research in female athletes. However, in most instances, it is challenging to address this gap of high-quality research in elite female athletes at a single study site due to challenges in recruiting enough participants with numerous menstrual cycle and contraceptive pill permutations. Accordingly, we have assembled an international multisite team to undertake an innovative project for female athletes, which investigates the effects of changes in endogenous and exogenous oestrogen and progesterone/progestins across the menstrual cycle and in response to second-generation combined monophasic contraceptive pill use, on aspects of exercise physiology and athletic performance. This project will employ the current gold-standard methodologies in this area, resulting in an adequately powered dataset. This protocol paper describes the consortium-based approach we will undertake during this study.