The role of maturity offset in predicting aerobic and anaerobic performance outcomes in young off-road cyclists.

With the accelerating process of global population aging, the physical and mental health of perimenopausal women has received increasing attention. According to the prediction of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the global number of perimenopausal women will exceed 1.2 billion by 2030 (), among which the population in China will surpass 210 million (). WHO defines perimenopause as the period from the onset of ovarian function decline to 1 year after menopause (). During this period, the decline in ovarian function and the sharp drop in estrogen levels may induce a series of physiological and psychological symptoms (), such as irritability, joint pain, memory impairment and depression (). Among these, depressive symptoms have become an important public health issue affecting the quality of life and social functioning of perimenopausal women (). Specifically, the incidence of depression among this population ranges from 45 to 68% (). Furthermore, among perimenopausal women, the more severe the amenorrhea symptoms and the higher the level of somatic stress, the higher the risk of depression (). In recent years, exercise intervention, as a safe, economical, and sustainable non-pharmacological treatment, has gradually become a research focus in the field of mental health intervention for perimenopausal women (). Evidence suggests that regular exercise is associated with improvements in women’s physical function, physiological health, mental well-being, and overall health status (). Previous studies have consistently reported that various forms of exercise, including walking, aerobic exercise, and traditional Chinese exercises, can alleviate depressive symptoms and improve related psychological outcomes such as anxiety and sleep disturbances among perimenopausal women (; ; ; ). These findings suggest that exercise may serve as an effective non-pharmacological strategy for improving mental health during the perimenopausal period. Although numerous studies have confirmed that exercise intervention exerts a certain improving effect on depression in perimenopausal women (; ), there are still some deficiencies and controversies in the existing studies: first, most studies have a small sample size, resulting in limited stability and representativeness of the research results (; ); second, there are significant differences in exercise intensity, cycle and frequency adopted in different studies, with a lack of systematic classification and comparison (); third, there is still a lack of comprehensive analysis on the relationship between exercise intervention parameters (such as exercise intensity, duration and intervention cycle) and the effect of depression improvement from the perspective of evidence-based medicine (; ). For these reasons, a comprehensive evaluation of the literature is needed to determine the impact of exercise interventions on depressive levels in perimenopausal women.