title: Sports-specific adaptation of left ventricular muscle mass in athlete's heart. II: An echocardiographic study with 400-m runners and soccer players.
abstract: Regarding the influence of the left ventricular (LV) adaptation by sports-specific factors the supposed endurance training have so far been compared mainly to strength conditioning. In the present study we investigated the echocardiographic LV measurements of endurance-trained athletes in different kinds of endurance sports (running and ball games) by using matched-pair procedures. We examined 22 male soccer players (S) and 22 male 400-m runners (R) on a regional up to a national level with--each similar in pairs--the following body mass (S: 75.7 +/-5.0 kg; R: 75.2 +/- 5.6), body surface area (S: 1.97 +/- 0.09 m2; R: 1.98 +/- 0.09), fat-free body mass (S: 68.4 +/- 4.6 kg; R: 68.3 +/- 5.3) and individual anaerobic threshold as a criterion to determine the running endurance (S: 14.23 +/- 0.79 km.h-1; R: 14.25 +/- 0.80). The body dimensions-related heart volume (HV/lean body mass: S: 14.2 +/- 1.5 ml.kg-1; R: 13.4 +/- 1.0) as well as the absolute and body surface-related LV internal diameter (EDD: S: 55.0 +/- 3.8 mm; R: 52.7 +/- 3.3; EDD/body-surface area: S: 27.8 +/- 1.9 mm.m-2; R: 26.6 +/- 1.3) were measured significantly higher in S as compared to R (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively). In both groups, free LV wall thickness, enddiastolic diameter and LV muscle mass correlated significantly with the body dimensions (fat-free body mass: r = 0.42 - 0.48 - 0.56; p < 0.004, respectively). In conclusion, specific sport-related strain like frequent exercises in interval form (typical for ball games) and a different volume/intensity ratio could significantly influence the LV adaptation beside the endurance performance as well as constitutional and genetic factors.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Sports and Preventive Medicine, University of Saarland, Saarbrücken, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Urhausen
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Monz
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kindermann
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000328:Adult; D015308:Anaerobic Threshold; D001824:Body Constitution; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001830:Body Surface Area; D002306:Cardiac Volume; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003971:Diastole; D004452:Echocardiography; D005823:Genetics; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009119:Muscle Contraction; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology; D012420:Running / Q000502:physiology*; D012916:Soccer / Q000502:physiology*; D016276:Ventricular Function