Authors: Tomas Venckunas Rasa Raugaliene Birute Mazutaitiene Sonata Ramoskeviciute
Publish Date: 2007/10/17
Volume: 102, Issue: 3, Pages: 307-311
Abstract
Competitive athletics is often associated with moderate left ventricular LV hypertrophy The aim of this study was to shed more light on the extent and type of cardiac hypertrophic response to different athletic conditioning in females Standard twodimensional Mmode and Doppler echocardiography was performed at rest in Caucasian female sprinters n = 10 and longdistance runners n = 10 of similar age range 16–34 years training experience 5–18 years and competitive level and in agematched healthy female sedentary controls n = 10 No differences in echocardiographic parameters were detected between female sprinters and sedentary controls p 005 Interventricular septum and LV wall p 005 were thicker and LV mass was greater p 001 in longdistance runners as compared with sprinters or sedentary controls Absolute LV diameter was not increased in longdistance runners p 005 though relative LV diameter was higher in longdistance runners as compared to sprinters p 005 As compared with controls relative wall thickness the sum of LV wall thickness and interventricular septum thickness divided by LV diameter was higher p = 0004 in longdistance runners Neither systolic nor diastolic LV parameters were different among the groups p 005 In conclusion sprint running training has not been found to induce alterations in cardiac morphology or function at rest in female athletes Cardiac mass in female longdistance runners is higher mainly due to myocardial wall thickening while integral myocardial function at rest is not affected as a consequence of either this hypertrophy or sprint training
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