Hunter Sandra K
Exercise Science Program, Department of Physical Therapy, and the Athletic and Human Performance Research Center, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.
J Appl Physiol (1985). 2024 Apr 1;136(4):659-676. doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00866.2023. Epub 2024 Feb 15.
High-level athletic performances may be a proxy for the trajectory of optimal function of human biology with advanced aging and the differences between males and females. Males are faster, stronger, and more powerful than females and these physical attributes decline dramatically with advanced aging for both sexes. Experimental mechanistic studies determine the physiological mechanisms for these sex and age differences in human physical performance. The assumption however, that real-world performances solely reflect the biological and physiological differences between the sexes and with advanced aging, even among elite athletes, is not complete. This review presents evidence that an integrated approach encompassing analysis of real-world data and experimental mechanistic studies is necessary to determine the biological and sociocultural factors attributed to the limits of performance with aging and between males and females. First, experimental studies are presented that focus on the sex and age differences in performance fatigability that determine the physiological mechanisms of absolute and relative exercise performance. Second, analysis of current and historical real-world data including world records, and performances of elite, collegiate, and competitive age-group athletes are highlighted. These data illustrate that the upper limits of physical performance that have changed historically, and other factors such as sociocultural influences, explain the widening of the sex and age gaps in human performance observed in real-world data even in present-day performances. These approaches have broader significance when applied to understanding the impact of the historically low representation of females and minority groups in biomedical research on health outcomes.
高水平的运动表现可能是人类生物学最佳功能随衰老进程以及男性和女性之间差异的一种体现。男性比女性速度更快、更强壮且更有力量，而随着年龄增长，这些身体属性在两性中都会显著下降。实验性机制研究确定了人类身体表现中这些性别和年龄差异的生理机制。然而，即使在精英运动员中，现实世界中的表现仅仅反映性别之间以及随衰老出现的生物学和生理差异这一假设并不全面。本综述提供的证据表明，采用一种综合方法，包括对现实世界数据的分析和实验性机制研究，对于确定导致衰老过程中以及男性和女性之间表现受限的生物学和社会文化因素是必要的。首先，介绍了一些实验研究，这些研究聚焦于表现疲劳方面的性别和年龄差异，这些差异决定了绝对和相对运动表现的生理机制。其次，重点分析了当前和历史上的现实世界数据，包括世界纪录以及精英、大学生和竞技年龄组运动员的表现。这些数据表明，历史上发生变化的身体表现上限以及社会文化影响等其他因素，解释了在现实世界数据中观察到的人类表现中性别和年龄差距不断扩大的现象，即使在当今的表现中也是如此。当应用于理解生物医学研究中女性和少数群体的历史低代表性对健康结果的影响时，这些方法具有更广泛的意义。
