The Relationship between Cortisol and Bone Mineral Density in Competitive Male Cyclists

Table 3

Correlations for BMD and cyclist characteristics (𝑁=30).

Variable	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
Predictor variable
(1) Age	—
(2) BMI	0.00	—
(3) Calcium intake	0.07	0.07	—
(4) Weight training	0.01	0.31	0.62^†	—
(5) Years of cycling	0.67^†	−0.05	0.00	−0.12	—
(6) Run training	−0.14	0.42*	−0.16	0.20	−0.23	—
(7) Races per year	−0.11	−0.26	0.28	−0.19	0.24	−0.42*	—
(8) Prerace cortisol^a	−0.05	0.31	0.15	0.25	0.08	0.29	−0.10	—
(9) Postrace cortisol^b	−0.02	−0.24	0.00	−0.23	−0.11	0.19	−0.02	−0.08	—
(10) Prerace nervousness	−0.16	−0.27	0.06	−0.03	−0.05	−0.21	0.05	−0.19	−0.08	—
Dependent variables
(11) Lumbar spine	0.02	−0.11	0.40*	0.61^†	−0.22	−0.44	−0.22	−0.04	0.03	0.03	—
(12) Total hip	−0.24	0.16	0.21	0.66^†	−0.28	0.13	−0.28	0.16	−0.02	−0.03	0.76^†	—
(13) Femoral neck	−0.27	0.08	0.38*	0.75^†	−0.37*	0.12	−0.28	0.11	−0.08	−0.11	0.86^†	0.91^†	—
(14) Femoral trochanter	−0.01	0.05	0.29	0.64^†	−0.17	0.09	−0.24	0.14	−0.01	0.10	0.82^†	0.90^†	0.86^†

Note. an = 29, bn = 22; †denotes that correlation is significant at the 0.01 level; ∗denotes that correlation is significant at the 0.05 level. BMI represents body mass index. Calcium intake was estimated as mg/day. Weight training and run training were measured in min/wk. Salivary cortisol was measured in nmol/L. BMD was measured as g/cm².