Peak aerobic performance and left ventricular morphological characteristics in university students.
OBJECTIVE
To determine whether a relationship exists between left ventricular morphology and aerobic capacity in large numbers of male university students with a physically inactive and active life style.


METHODS
A prospective study.


METHODS
Sports medicine research center.


METHODS
Eleven sedentary normal-weight university students, 17 sedentary overweight university students, and 215 university athletes.


METHODS
After the echocardiographic examination, an incremental treadmill exercise test until exhaustion was performed to measure peak oxygen uptake (VO2).


RESULTS
In sedentary students, absolute peak VO2 in the overweight students was slightly higher than that in normal-weight students (3,024 vs. 2.912 ml/min). Relative peak VO2 (ml/min/kg) was highly negatively correlated with body mass index (kg/m2) in a total of 28 sedentary students. The correlation between absolute peak VO2 and left ventricular dimension was weak in the sedentary overweight students; however, a correlation coefficient of 0.55 was obtained in athletic students. A stepwise multiple regression showed significant determinants of absolute peak VO2 in athletic students for body surface area (45%), left ventricular dimension (7%), and certain sports (6%).


CONCLUSIONS
A physically active life style plays a role in increasing both aerobic capacity and left ventricular enlargement. Body size appeared to be a potent stimulus to left ventricular enlargement.
Yamazaki
H
H
Sports Medicine Research Center and School of Medicine, Keio University, Yokohama, Japan. yamazaki@hc.cc.keio.ac.jp
Onishi
S
S
Katsukawa
F
F
Ishida
H
H
Kinoshita
N
N
D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D004452:Echocardiography; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D005080:Exercise Test; D005260:Female; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000503:physiopathology; D010101:Oxygen Consumption / Q000502:physiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012044:Regression Analysis; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014495:Universities; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology*