Jokubauskas, Vytenis

Objectives (oral/poster only) Retirement from competitive sports is a common occurrence, but the reasons for this decision are not always known. As part of the sports team, the physician may wonder what reasons led the athlete to make this decision. However, there is insufficient information in the scientific literature to address this question. Our study aims to determine the prevalence and reasons for Lithuanian athletes' expressed desire to retire from athletics. Materials and methods (oral/poster only) Of 102 Lithuanian track and field athletes who were provided with an original online questionnaire via "Messenger" app, 60 (response rate 58.82%) agreed to provide information about their willingness to retire from athletics and reasons behind it. IBM SPSS Statistics 23.0 was used for statistical analysis. Pearson correlation was calculated to determine the correlation between two scale, point biserial correlation - between scale and nominal, Spearman correlation - between scale and ordinal variables. Chi2 test was used to determine the dependence between two nominal variables, Cramer's V test - to calculate the effect strength. Results (oral/poster only) The analysis found that 80% of respondents had considered quitting their careers. 41.67% considered it within six months. No significant differences in desire to retire were observed in different ages or sexes (p>0.05). 26.67%, 16.67% and 15% of respondents reported conflicts with coaches, health problems and psychological difficulties as reasons for this decision respectively. There was a statistically significant association between the reason given and the sex of the respondents (χ²=13.3, p=0.039, Cramer's V=0.471). Females most often identified disagreements with coaches as the main reason, males - physical health problems. Conclusions This study identified that desire to retire from competitive sports is a common problem, accounting for 80% of athletes. A different view for different sexes must be taken into account, as the reasons behind that desire may be different regarding gender.

Objectives (oral/poster only) Anxiety and depression are well-known conditions that very often interfere with daily activities. Sports activities are no exception. It is known that one-third of athletes who actively train and compete are likely to suffer from anxiety and depression. However, there is no sufficient data yet on the number of these athletes in each sport and how these symptoms are related to the performance level of the athletes. In this study, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms and their relationship with athletes' level of performance. Materials and methods (oral/poster only) 60 competitive Lithuanian track and field athletes were surveyed using an original, where athletes self-reported their personal best performance based on the World Athletics scoring system, and SMHAT-1 questionnaire, in which General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) are included. IBM SPSS Statistics 23.0 was used. Pearson correlation was calculated to determine the correlation between the two scale variables, point biserial correlation – between scale and nominal, Spearman correlation – between scale and ordinal variables. Results (oral/poster only) In the GAD-7 and PHQ-9 questionnaires athletes scored 6.633 ± 4.258 points out of 21 and 7.117 ± 5.132 points out of 27, respectively. The analysis showed that 23.3% of the subjects scored moderate or higher levels of anxiety, while 33.3% scored moderate or higher levels of depression. No symptoms of anxiety or depression at all were found in 36.7% and 40% of subjects, respectively. The results of correlations showed that there was no significant relationship between the athletes' performance and the presence and severity of depression or anxiety symptoms (p>0.05). Conclusions This study showed that mild to severe symptoms of anxiety and depression are observed in 63,3% and 60% of Lithuanian track and field athletes, respectively. Whatsoever there is no significant relationship between these symptoms and performance level of the athlete.