Heart-Rate Changes After an Ultraendurance Swim From Italy to Albania: A Case Report.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effect of a solo ultraendurance open-water swim on autonomic and nonautonomic control of heart rate (HR).


METHODS
A male athlete (age 48 y, height 172 cm, body mass 68 kg, BMI 23 kg/m2) underwent HR-variability (HRV) and circulating catecholamine evaluations at different times before and after an ultraendurance swim crossing the Adriatic Sea from Italy to Albania. HRV was measured in 5-min segments and quantified by time and frequency domain. Circulating catecholamines were estimated by salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) assay.


RESULTS
The athlete completed 78.1 km in 23:44 h:min. After arrival, sAA levels had increased by 102.6%. Time- and frequency-domain HRV indexes decreased, as well (mean RR interval, -29,7%; standard deviation of normal mean RR interval, -63,1%; square root of mean squared successive differences between normal-to-normal RR intervals, -49.3%; total power, -74.3%; low frequency, -78.0%; high frequency, -76.4%), while HR increased by 41.8%. At 16-h recovery, sAA had returned to preevent values, while a stable tachycardia was accompanied by reduced HRV measures.


CONCLUSIONS
To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study reporting cardiac autonomic adjustments to an extreme and challenging ultraendurance open-water swim. The findings confirmed that the autonomic drives depend on exercise efforts. Since HRV changes did not mirror the catecholamine response 16 h postevent, the authors assume that the ultraendurance swim differently influenced cardiac function by both adaptive autonomic and nonautonomic patterns.
Dept of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy.
Anna
A
Valenzano
Fiorenzo
F
Moscatelli
Antonio Ivano
AI
Triggiani
Laura
L
Capranica
Giulia
G
De Ioannon
Maria Francesca
MF
Piacentini
Sergio
S
Mignardi
Giovanni
G
Messina
Stefano
S
Villani
Giuseppe
G
Cibelli
D056352:Athletes; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D002395:Catecholamines / Q000097:blood; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology*; D013550:Swimming / Q000502:physiology*; D000516:alpha-Amylases / Q000032:analysis
D002395:Catecholamines; D000516:alpha-Amylases