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Health-Related Quality of Life in Adolescent Athletes: Correlations With Energy Availability, Disordered Eating, and Compulsive Exercise Behaviors

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Context Low energy availability, disordered eating, and/or compulsive exercise behaviors may negatively affect health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and this has not been studied specifically in adolescent athletes. Objective Assess the correlations of HRQOL with energy availability, disordered eating, and compulsive exercise in adolescent athletes. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting A single sports medicine center and local athletic partnerships. Patients or Other Participants Thirteen- to 18-year-old male and female athletes who were actively engaged in at least 1 organized sports team at the time of study participation. Main Outcome Measure(s) Participants completed the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire, the Compulsive Exercise Test, and 7 days of exercise monitoring (via wrist-worn heart rate activity monitor) and dietary intake reporting to assess energy availability. Results Sixty-four participants (n = 39 female, mean age = 15.5 ± 1.5 years) completed the study. There were no significant associations between energy availability (β = −0.07; 95% CI = −0.32, 0.19; P = .56) or Compulsive Exercise Test scores (β = −0.28; 95% CI = −1.28, 0.72; P = .58) and PedsQL scores, but there was a significant association between Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire scores (β = −4.78; 95% CI = −8.53, −0.76; P = .01) and PedsQL scores, after adjusting for participant sex. We observed a significant association between female sex and lower PedsQL scores (β = −6.43; 95% CI = −12.1, −0.76; P = .03). Conclusions Adolescent athletes who reported more significant disordered eating behaviors demonstrated worse HRQOL. Female athletes reported worse HRQOL overall compared with male athletes. This highlights the importance of screening and early intervention for disordered eating behaviors to prevent the potential negative impact on HRQOL, as well as the consideration of sex-specific differences regarding HRQOL in adolescent athletes.

Source: Journal of Athletic Training

DOI: 10.4085/1062-6050-0016.25