title: The effects of sports participation on the development of left ventricular mass in adolescent boys.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the contribution of body size, biological maturation, and nonelite sports participation to longitudinal changes of left ventricular mass (LVM) in healthy boys.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred and ten boys (11.0-14.5 years at baseline) were assessed biannually for 2 years. Stature, body mass, and four skinfolds were measured. Lean body mass (LBM) was estimated. Biological maturation was assessed as years from age at peak height velocity (APHV). Sports participation was assessed by questionnaire. LVM was obtained from M-mode echocardiograms using two-dimensional images. To account for the repeated measures within individual nature of longitudinal data, multilevel random effects regression analyses were used in the analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  LVM increased on average 42 ± 18 g from 11 to 15 years (P < 0.05) and 76 ± 14 g from 3.5 years pre-APHV to 1.5 years post-APHV (P < 0.05). The multilevel model with the best statistical fit (Model B) showed that changes of 1 cm in stature, 1 year post-APHV, and 1 kg of LBM predicts 4.7, 0.5, and 1 g of LVM (P < 0.05), respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Among healthy, male adolescents aged 11-15 years individual differences in growth and biological maturation influence growth of LVM. Subcutaneous adiposity and sports participation were not associated with greater LVM.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Lusófona University of Humanities and Technologies, Lisbon, Portugal.|Faculty of Sport Sciences and Physical Education, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: João
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Valente-Dos-Santos
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Sport Sciences and Physical Education, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Manuel J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Coelho-E-Silva
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Sport Sciences and Physical Education, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.|Department of Clinical Physiology, School of Health and Technology, Instituto Politécnico de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Joaquim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Castanheira
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Sport Sciences and Physical Education, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.|Research Centre for Anthropology and Health (CIAS), University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: Aristides M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Machado-Rodrigues
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Education, Center of Physical Education and Sport, Londrina State University, Londrina, Parana, Brazil.
authors.forename: Edilson S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Cyrino
authors.affiliation: School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Lauren B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Sherar
authors.affiliation: School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Dale W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Esliger
authors.affiliation: Center for Human Movement Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.|Institute for Studies in Sports and Exercise, HAN University of Applied Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marije T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Elferink-Gemser
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology and Health Education, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, United States of America.|Department of Kinesiology, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, Texas, United States of America.
authors.forename: Robert M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Malina
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D049628:Body Size; D002648:Child; D004452:Echocardiography; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000254:growth & development*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011174:Portugal; D013177:Sports