Growth status and age at peak height velocity among youth participants in several sports: the Cracow longitudinal study.

Background: Studies addressing age at peak height velocity (PHV) in longitudinal samples of participants in sports are relatively limited.

Purpose: To compare the growth status and estimated ages at PHV of longitudinal samples girls and boys active in sport with peers not active in sport, and to compare estimated ages at PHV among longitudinal samples of Polish youth active in sport.

Methods: Records from the Cracow Longitudinal Study, which measured youth annually from 8 to 18 years, were screened to identify individuals regularly active in sport. Participants in athletics (22 girls, 10 boys), soccer (12 boys), and other team (6 girls, 7 boys) and individual (6 girls, 9 boys) sports were identified; 107 girls and 172 boys were not active in sport. Heights and weights of participants in sports and non-involved peers were compared. Longitudinal height records of individuals were fit with the SITAR model to estimate age at PHV. Ages at PHV of boys and girls active in sport and peers not active in sports were compared with sex-specific ANOVAs.

Results: Ages at PHV of boys participating in athletics and soccer were similar to age at PHV of boys not active in sport, while ages at PHV of boys in other team sports (basketball, volleyball, handball) and individual sports (skiing, gymnastics, acrobatics) were, respectively, slightly earlier and later. Among girls, age at PHV of participants in team sports (basketball, netball) was earlier, while ages at PHV among participants in athletics and other individual sports (equestrian, acrobatics, shooting) were slightly later compared to non-athlete peers.

Conclusion: Ages at PHV varied among participants in different sports and were consistent with estimates in other longitudinal samples of Polish youth athletes.