Anxiety in elite athletes, sex and age characteristics and association with sports

Abstract

Introduction: Long-term anxiety can lead to increased injuries and negatively affect physical performance, but it is also a significant risk factor for the development and progression of cardiovascular diseases. At the same time, participation in certain sports at a professional level is associated with an increased prevalence of risk factors such as excess body weight, dyslipidemia and hypertension. Therefore, the study of anxiety in elite athletes seems to us an urgent task.Objective: to assess the prevalence of anxiety of varying severity among elite athletes permanently residing in the Tyumen region, and to identify possible associations of anxiety indicators with sports, gender and age.Materials and methods: The study involved 141 elite athletes of the Tyumen region (40 (28.4 %) and 101 (71.6 %) female and male, respectively) aged from 14 to 38 years (average age 21.0 ± 4.2). Participants competed in both individual (biathlon and judo, n = 62 (44.0 %)) and team sports (volleyball, hockey, n = 79 (56.0%)). Anxiety (reactive and personal) was assessed using the Spielberger — Hanin questionnaire. To assess the independent relationship of the variables under consideration with anxiety indicators, multivariate analysis was used — multinomial logistic regression.Results: Severe reactive anxiety was found in 21 (15.7 %) athletes, and severe personal anxiety in 26 (19.5 %) athletes. 80 (59.7 %) athletes had moderate reactive anxiety, and 83 (62.4 %) had moderate personal anxiety. When conducting multivariate analysis, independent associations of reactive anxiety with age (OR = 1.25, 95 % CI 1.08–1.45, p = 0.003), types of sports (OR = 0.39, 95 % CI 0.17) were established -0.94, p=0.036) and gender (OR=0.23, 95 % CI 0.06–0.93, p=0.039). Personal anxiety was independently associated with gender (OR = 0.12, 95 % CI 0.02–0.63, p = 0.013) and type of sport (OR = 0.29, 95 % CI 0.11–0.77, p = 0.013).Conclusion: The prevalence of anxiety symptoms among elite athletes was quite high. Moreover, the indicator of reactive anxiety among them was independently and significantly associated with age, types of sports and gender, and the indicator of personal anxiety was associated with gender and types of sports.