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Rojo Tirado, Miguel AngelAuthorPeinado A.b.Corresponding AuthorAlfaro-Magallanes V.m.AuthorRomero-Parra N.AuthorBarba-Moreno L.AuthorRael BAuthorMaestre-Cascales C.AuthorRojo-Tirado MaAuthorCastro E.a.AuthorBenito P.j.AuthorButragueño JAuthorGarcía-De-Alcaraz AAuthorRojo JjAuthorCalderón F.j.AuthorGarcía-Bataller A.AuthorCupeiro R.AuthorMethodological approach of the iron and muscular damage: Female metabolism and menstrual cycle during exercise project (IronFEMME study)
Publicated to:International Journal Of Environmental Research And Public Health. 18 (2): 735-22 - 2021-01-01 18(2), DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18020735
Authors: Peinado, Ana B; Alfaro-Magallanes, Victor M; Romero-Parra, Nuria; Barba-Moreno, Laura; Rael, Beatriz; Maestre-Cascales, Cristina; Rojo-Tirado, Miguel A; Castro, Eliane A; Benito, Pedro J; Ortega-Santos, Carmen P; Santiago, Elena; Butragueno, Javier; Garcia-de-Alcaraz, Antonio; Rojo, Jesus J; Calderon, Francisco J; Garcia-Bataller, Alberto; Cupeiro, Rocio
Affiliations
Abstract
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Background: The increase in exercise levels in the last few years among professional and recreational female athletes has led to an increased scientific interest about sports health and performance in the female athlete population. The purpose of the IronFEMME Study described in this protocol article is to determine the influence of different hormonal profiles on iron metabolism in response to endurance exercise, and the main markers of muscle damage in response to resistance exercise; both in eumenorrheic, oral contraceptive (OC) users and postmenopausal well-trained women. Methods: This project is an observational controlled randomized counterbalanced study. One hundered and four (104) active and healthy women were selected to participate in the IronFEMME Study, 57 of which were eumenorrheic, 31 OC users and 16 postmenopausal. The project consisted of two sections carried out at the same time: iron metabolism (study I) and muscle damage (study II). For the study I, the exercise protocol consisted of an interval running test (eight bouts of 3 min at 85% of the maximal aerobic speed), whereas the study II protocol was an eccentric-based resistance exercise protocol (10 sets of 10 repetitions of plate-loaded barbell parallel back squats at 60% of their one repetition maximum (1RM) with 2 min of recovery between sets). In both studies, eumenorrheic participants were evaluated at three specific moments of the menstrual cycle: early-follicular phase, late-follicular phase and mid-luteal phase; OC users performed the trial at two moments: withdrawal phase and active pill phase. Lastly, postmenopausal women were only tested once, since their hormonal status does not fluctuate. The three-step method was used to verify the menstrual cycle phase: calendar counting, blood test confirmation, and urine-based ovulation kits. Blood samples were obtained to measure sex hormones, iron metabolism parameters, and muscle damage related markers. Discussion: IronFEMME Study has been designed to increase the knowledge regarding the influence of sex hormones on some aspects of the exercise-related female physiology. Iron metabolism and exercise-induced muscle damage will be studied considering the different reproductive status present throughout well-trained females’ lifespan.
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Quality index
Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel
The work has been published in the journal International Journal Of Environmental Research And Public Health due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2021, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health.
From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 1.33. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)
This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:
- Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 9.75 (source consulted: Dimensions Jul 2025)
Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-07-09, the following number of citations:
- WoS: 16
- Scopus: 17
- Europe PMC: 3
Impact and social visibility
Leadership analysis of institutional authors
This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Chile; United States of America.
There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (PEINADO LOZANO, ANA BELEN) and Last Author (CUPEIRO COTO, ROCIO).
the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been PEINADO LOZANO, ANA BELEN.