Common Questions
What is the athletic triad?
A common syndrome, especially in young women, is known as the athletic triad, which consists of excessive exercise, eating disorder, and amenorrhea. These women often do not meet strict diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder but engage in regular caloric deprivation (1-3).
Excessive exercise is a risk factor for amenorrhea, and amenorrheic athletes or those with infrequent menses have lower bone densities than their counterparts with normal periods.
- Anderson, Jeffrey M. The female athletic triad: Disordered eating, amenorrhea and osteoporosis. Connecticut Medicine. Connecticut Medicine 1999; 63(11): 647-651.
- Otis, Carol. Exercise-associated amenorrhea. Clinics in Sports Medicine 1992; 11(2): 351-362.
- Drinkwater, et al. Bone mineral density after resumption of menses in amenorrheic athletes. JAMA 1986; 256: 380-2.