Válogatott kézilabdázó játékosok endokrin státuszának vizsgálata = The analysis of the endocrine state of national-level handball players

Rátz-Sulyok, Fanny Zselyke and Jang-Kapuy, Csilla and Bakonyi, Péter and Béres, Bettina and Dobronyi, Tamás and Simon, Gergő and Zsákai, Annamária and Szabó, Tamás (2025) Válogatott kézilabdázó játékosok endokrin státuszának vizsgálata = The analysis of the endocrine state of national-level handball players. ANTHROPOLOGIAI KÖZLEMÉNYEK, 66. pp. 53-63. ISSN 0003-5440

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Abstract

The changes of endocrine state of elite athletes have been mostly researched in regards of effects of strenuous training, the stress of competition, the risk of overtraining and the difference between sports. However, the baseline hormonal profile of athletes was not followed along from a young age to their adult careers. Since the selection into professional athletic institutions starts years before reaching adulthood, training influences both somatic and psychological developmental processes. A relatively novel non-invasive tool to easily follow young elite athletes’ progression on an endocrine level is the analysis of salivary biomarkers. We set our research goal to mapping out the endocrine profile of elite athletes and compare their results to the available recommended salivary ELISA non-athlete references. In the Sport Sciences and Diagnostic Research Centre of the Hungarian Handball Federation (between 2023–2025), we analysed 507 elite handball player’s (aged 13–35 ys) salivary cortisol, testosterone, and in case of female players, 17-β-oestradiol levels. The results of salivary resting hormone concentrations showed that adult male handball players had a high relative frequency of high testosterone levels, while female players had high prevalence of low oestradiol levels compared to non-athlete references. The cortisol concentrations showed different patterns in subadult and adult athletes, an increased level of cortisol in adult handball players was found. The detected salivary concentration in athletes and the analysis of age dependent patterns necessitates the creation of athlete-specific references and the extension of the non-athlete references into the younger, subadult age ranges.

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