Fat Mediated Modulation of Reproductive and Endocrine Function in Young Athletes

June 4, 2021 updated by: Madhusmita Misra, Massachusetts General Hospital
One aim of this study is to determine changes in body composition and hormones that differentiate athletes who stop getting their periods versus those who continue to get their periods and non-athletes. The second aim of this study is to determine whether transdermal or oral estrogen (versus no estrogen) is effective in increasing bone density and improving bone microarchitecture in adolescent athletes who are not getting their periods and are thus estrogen deficient. The investigators hypothesize that transdermal estrogen will be more effective than oral estrogen or no estrogen in improving bone health in amenorrheic adolescent athletes.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

As many as 25% of adolescent and young adult endurance athletes develop amenorrhea, and factors that cause amenorrhea to occur in some, but not all, athletes have not been well characterized. Recent data indicate the critical importance of a negative energy balance state and leptin in regulating the Hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (H-P-G) axis. However, these factors do not completely account for alterations in this axis, and other contributing factors are unclear. Our preliminary data indicate the importance of low fat mass and fat related hormones in mediating hypogonadism in young athletes. This study will confirm these data and determine whether low fat mass and altered levels of adipokines, such as leptin and adiponectin, and hormones regulated by fat mass, such as ghrelin and peptide YY (PYY), determine alterations in LH pulsatility. A very concerning impact of amenorrhea in athletes is low bone mineral density (BMD). Preliminary data indicate lower BMD in adolescent athletes with amenorrhea (AA) compared with eumenorrheic athletes (EA) and non-athletic controls. The high prevalence of AA in adolescents is particularly concerning, because this population is potentially at greater risk as it is actively accruing bone. Of importance, bone microarchitecture, a better predictor of bone strength than BMD, has not been studied in AA. Because pubertal increases in estrogen are integral to optimizing peak bone mass, and AA is characterized by hypoestrogenism, this randomized study of transdermal estrogen versus oral estrogen or no estrogen will also examine whether estrogen replacement increases BMD and improves bone microarchitecture in adolescent AA 14-21 years old. EA and sedentary controls will be followed without intervention for this period. Despite the prevalent practice of prescribing oral contraceptives in AA, there is a paucity of data regarding benefits of this intervention in teenagers. Because transdermal estrogen, unlike oral estrogen, does not suppress IGF-1, an important bone anabolic factor, we expect effects of transdermal estrogen to exceed those of oral estrogen or no therapy. In addition, preliminary data indicate that low fat mass and alterations in fat related hormones may contribute to decreased bone accrual rates in athletes, and will be confirmed in this study. To summarize, a better understanding of the pathophysiology of reproductive dysfunction is critical to develop therapeutic strategies that will normalize the reproductive axis and bone accrual, and these are the questions that this study aims to answer.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

121

Phase

  • Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02114
        • Massachusetts General Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

14 years to 21 years (ADULT, CHILD)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Females 14-21 years old Note: Our pilot data are reassuring in that young women 18-25 years old with hypothalamic amenorrhea are not adversely affected with estrogen use. In fact, in our prospective study, beneficial effects were observed both in young women 18-25 years old using oral estrogen, and in 14-18 year old adolescent girls using transdermal estrogen. We therefore feel that including girls in the 14-21 year age range will not be hazardous to their bone health. In fact, given the lack of data in this age group, it is important to study younger women and teenagers rather than extrapolate data from studies in adults to this younger population. Hormone dynamics differ in teenagers compared with adults, and bone mass accrual is even more dependent on estrogen and IGF-1 in younger than older women who have already achieved peak bone mass.
  • Bone age (BA) >15 years Note: 99% of adult height is achieved at a BA of 15 years, thus estrogen replacement will not result in stunting of height potential after this age. Although we could have chosen to include girls with a BA >14 in this study, we are limiting this to girls with a BA of >15 years. This is because 2% of growth potential persists at a BA of 14 years, versus only 1% at a BA of 15 years (~0.6" of potential height (130)). Thus, to avoid potential stunting of growth potential with estrogen replacement, we have chosen to include girls with BA of > 15 years.
  • BMI between 10th-90th percentiles for age.
  • Amenorrhea (for AA): absence of menses for > three months (74) within a period of oligomenorrhea (cycle length > six weeks) for >six months, or absence of menarche at >16 years.
  • Eumenorrhea (EA and controls): > nine menses (cycle length 21-35 days) in preceding year.
  • Non-athlete healthy controls will be eligible if weight bearing exercise activity is less than two hours a week and if they are not participating in organized team sports.
  • Endurance athletes Note: severity of low BMD and menstrual dysfunction differ by kind of exercise and activity. For example, runners have a higher prevalence of menstrual irregularity than swimmers and cyclists (131). By limiting enrollment to endurance athletes, we will eliminate variability from the type of activity. Endurance training is defined as > 4 h of aerobic weight-bearing training of the legs or specific endurance training weekly, or > 20 miles of running weekly for a period of > 6 months in the last year.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Other conditions that may affect bone metabolism

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: NONE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Estrogen Patch
17Beta-estradiol transdermal patch twice weekly application for 12 months
Drug: Transdermal 17Beta-estradiol, progesterone
100 mcg/day 17Beta-estradiol; transdermal twice weekly application for 12 months (with cyclic micronized progesterone pills (Prometrium): 200 mg taken orally daily Day 1 to Day 12 each month) + Elemental calcium 1200 mg and Vit D 400 IU taken orally daily
Other Names:
  • Prometrium
  • Vivelle Dot transdermal patch
ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: Estrogen Pill
One pill containing estrogen and progesterone taken daily for 21 days followed by placebo pills only for 7 days; regimen repeated for 12 months.
Drug: Ethinyl Estradiol + Desogestrel
Oral ethinyl estradiol (0.03 mg) + desogestrel (0.15 mg) + Elemental calcium 1200 mg and Vit D 400 IU taken once daily
Other Names:
  • Apri
SHAM_COMPARATOR: Control
Elemental calcium 1200 mg and Vit D 400 IU taken orally daily
Dietary supplement: Sham Comparator
Elemental calcium 1200 mg and Vit D 400 IU taken orally daily

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Lumbar Bone Mineral Density
Time Frame: 12 months
Change in bone density with transdermal estrogen versus oral estrogen or no estrogen in amenorrheic athletes
12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Total Volumetric Bone Mineral Density (Tibia)
Time Frame: 12 months
Change in total volumetric bone density at the tibia with transdermal estrogen versus oral estrogen or no estrogen in amenorrheic athletes
12 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Massachusetts General Hospital

Collaborators

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Madhusmita Misra, MD, MPH, Massachusetts General Hospital Pediatric Neuroendocrine Unit and Harvard Medical School

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (ACTUAL)

May 1, 2009

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

February 1, 2020

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

April 1, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 22, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 23, 2009

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

July 24, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

June 11, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 4, 2021

Last Verified

June 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2009P000353
  • R01HD060827-01A1 (NIH)

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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