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Background: Substance use and misuse (SUM), eating disorders (ED) and consequent amenorrhea (AM) occur frequently in professional ballet dancing. The objective of this study has been to explore the prevalence and association between ED, AM and SUM in ballet., Material and Methods: The sample comprised 21 ballet dancers, 23.1±4.5 years old, members of the professional National Ballet Ensemble from Croatia. Variables were collected by questionnaires examining SUM, occurrence of amenorrhea, and corresponding ballet-specific and socio-demographic factors (Questionnaire on Substance Use - QSU) and the level of ED (Brief Eating Disorder in Athletes Questionnaire - BEDA-Q)., Results: Smoking is prevalent in 40% of dancers (25% smoke on a daily basis), 36% often use analgesics, and 25% engage in binge drinking at least once a month. Smoking and binge drinking are less frequent in ballerinas with a higher academic level (r = 0.60 and r = 0.54 for binge drinking and smoking, respectively; p < 0.05). Alcohol drinking is higher among dancers who consume analgesics more often and those with a higher BEDA-Q score (r = 0.53 and r = 0.54 for analgesics and BEDA-Q, respectively; p < 0.05). Amenorrhea is more prevalent among those dancers with a higher BEDA-Q score. Women who consume nutritional supplements are less likely to use analgesics (Mann Whitney U test = 2.11; p < 0.05)., Conclusions: Efforts seeking to prevent ED in ballet should target dancers who consume alcohol to a greater extent. Future studies should specifically explore the less frequent consumption of analgesics among dancers who consume nutritional supplements., (This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.)

Team position is of extreme importance in interpretation of morphological data because there are specific demands for a specific play position. The aim of the study was the analysis of morphological characteristics and body composition of elite Croatian soccer players with respect to their team position. The measurements were performed on 57 soccer players, members of the First Croatian National League. The anthropometrical measurement encompassed 13 variables. Descriptive statistics, t-test and MANOVA were used in data processing. The goalkeepers were the tallest and the heaviest (182.9 +/- 4.3 cm; 80.1 +/- 5.1 kg), and had significantly higher amounts of body fat (20.2% goalkeepers vs. 13-15% others; p < 0.05), whereas the forwards and the midfield players were on the average about 3 cm shorter. The goalkeepers had longer legs and arms (p < 0.05), and the largest biacromial diameter (43.2 +/- 1.9 cm). The forwards were the shortest on the average (179.2 +/- 6.3 cm). The lowest values of fat tissue were found in defenders (13.9%) and midfield players (14.4%). In conclusion, the differences in morphological characteristics according to the team position were noticed only in goalkeepers, especially regarding their height, weight and the percentage of fat tissue.