Sports Participation during Adolescence and Menstrual Cycle Education Status in Females across Six Territories

Introduction: There is a substantial amount of sporting dropout in teenage girls worldwide linked, in part, to the menstrual cycle (MC). Firstly, this study aimed to retrospectively quantify the reasons for decreased sports and, or, exercise (sports/exercise) participation during adolescence across different countries. Secondly, this study investigated the prevalence, source and content of MC education received in relation to sports/exercise. Methods: A survey was distributed via the Strava app to six geographical territories. The survey captured retrospective reasons for changing sports/exercise participation levels during adolescence and the provision, content and source of MC education received in relation to sports/exercise. Descriptive statistics were reported as frequencies and associations between countries, education and adolescent participation levels were determined using chi-square analysis (p=0.01). Results: Female Strava-users (M=40.8 years, SD=10.7 years) from six territories completed the survey (n=10,371). 24.8% of participants decreased their sports/exercise participation during adolescence with the United Kingdom (UK) & Ireland (39.7%) and Spain (39.1%) reporting significantly higher decreases than the other countries surveyed, X2 (10)=1023.77, p ≤ 0.001. The most common reason for decreased participation was a lack of time (28.0%). 71.1% of participants had not received education. Of those that were educated, the most common source was “self-education” (69.8%) and content was “to keep levels of exercise the same” (29.8%). Conclusions: There is a need for education to be available and easily accessible for girls and women which instructs on managing the MC and other commitments alongside sports/exercise and highlights the many benefits of participating in regular sports/exercise.