title: Echocardiographic and Blood Pressure Characteristics of First-Year Collegiate American-Style Football Players.
abstract: Echocardiographic (echo) and blood pressure (BP) reference values may help identify athletes at cardiovascular risk, yet benchmarks are inadequate for collegiate American-style football (ASF) players. Our purpose was to describe echo characteristics and BP values in collegiate ASF athletes compared with normal. First-year players (n = 80, age = 18 ± 1 years, height = 186 ± 7 cm, weight = 100.1 ± 22.0 kg, body mass index = 28.7 ± 5.0), body surface area [BSA] = 2.24 ± 0.25; percentage fat = 16.5 ± 9.7%) were measured for systolic and diastolic BP, and underwent echo procedures by a certified sonographer. Data analyses included simple statistics, Pearson r, frequencies in normal ranges, and t test; α = 0.05. Selected echo measurements (and indexed by BSA) were: left ventricular (LV) internal diameter diastole = 5.3 ± 0.5 cm (2.4 ± 0.3); left atrial diameter = 3.9 ± 0.5 cm (1.8 ± 0.2): LV end-diastolic volume = 138 ± 30 ml (62 ± 11); septal wall thickness = 1.0 ± 0.2 cm (0.5 ± 0.1); LV posterior wall thickness = 1.0 ± 0.1 cm (0.5 ± 0.1), LV mass = 212 ± 46 g (95 ± 18); and relative wall thickness = 0.39 ± 0.07. Correlations between BSA and echo variables were significant (r = 0.26 to 0.50). Indexing by BSA reduced percentages above reference ranges from 36% to 7%. Septal wall thickness index was significantly greater in black (0.5 ± 0.1) than nonblack (0.4 ± 0.1) athletes. Fifty-nine athletes were hypertensive or prehypertensive, and diastolic BP was significantly greater in black (76 ± 10 mm Hg) compared with nonblack athletes (71 ± 8 mm Hg). ASF athletes demonstrated LV wall thicknesses and cavity sizes consistent with sport-training hypertrophy but which were unremarkable when indexed by BSA. Ethnicity generally did not influence echo variables. No ASF players were identified with cardiac dysfunction or disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Kinesiology, Applied Exercise Science Laboratory, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas. Electronic address: s-crouse@tamu.edu.
authors.forename: Stephen F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Crouse
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, SSM Heart Institute/Clayton, SSM Health, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: White
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Baylor Scott and White Clinic, Temple, Texas.
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Erwin
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Baylor Scott and White Hospital, College Station, Texas.
authors.forename: Thomas H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Meade
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Kinesiology, Applied Exercise Science Laboratory, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
authors.forename: Steven E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas.
authors.forename: Jonathan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Oliver
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Kinesiology, Applied Exercise Science Laboratory, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
authors.forename: Dustin P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Joubert
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, Methodist Research Institute, Houston, Texas.
authors.forename: Bradley S
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Lambert
authors.affiliation: Department of Athletics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
authors.forename: Joe P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Bramhall
authors.affiliation: Department of Athletics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
authors.forename: Kory
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.affiliation: Department of Athletics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Weir
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005538:Football / Q000502:physiology*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D010807:Physical Endurance / Q000502:physiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States; D014495:Universities; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left / Q000502:physiology*