Physical fitness and salivary cortisol responses to maximal short-lasting efforts in male contestants with intellectual disability

Abstract

Background. This study aimed to determine temporary changes in salivary C induced by short-lasting competitive efforts among athletes with Down syndrome Material and methods. 24 male athletes with mild intellectual disabilities participated in mul-tiregional athletic meeting. Eight participants with Down syndrome (DS) run on 100m, and 16 others without DS competed on 200 or 400m. All athletes were assessed for salivary cortisol responses to running . Specimens of saliva were sampled twice prior to the effort (-60 min, -2 min.) and 5 minutes after the runs. Cortisol levels (C) were determined in duplicates in all col-lected samples. Results. Athletes with DS demonstrated somewhat higher C at -60 min (12.0± 2.3 nM) than the others competed at 200m (10.6±1.5) and at 400m (9.7±1.5). At the end of the run, mean C values in the groups were related to the distance: 100m-10.4±1.8nM, 200m-11.9±1.1, 400m-12.8±0.7. Ranges of outcomes of the running time were varied and dependent on distances : at 100m : 19.1-24.6 seconds, at 200m: 34.7-40.4 s., and at 400m: 91.4-109.4 s. Conclusions. Non-invasive and non-stressful study procedure appeared to be diagnostic one for determination adrenal function under competitive stress among intellectual disabled athletes, however, lack of the similar observations in neutral, non-stressful conditions and small samples of participants are the main limitation of this study.