title: Cardiac systolic regional function and synchrony in endurance trained and untrained females.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Most studies on cardiac function in athletes describe overall heart function in predominately male participants. We aimed to compare segmental, regional and overall myocardial function and synchrony in female endurance athletes (ATH) and in age-matched sedentary females (CON).
  
  
  METHODS
  In 46 ATH and 48 CON, echocardiography was used to measure peak longitudinal systolic strain and myocardial velocities in 12 left ventricular (LV) and 2 right ventricular (RV) segments. Regional and overall systolic function were calculated together with four indices of dyssynchrony.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no differences in regional or overall LV systolic function between groups, or in any of the four dyssynchrony indices. Peak systolic velocity (s') was higher in the RV of ATH than in CON (9.7±1.5 vs 8.7±1.5 cm/s, p=0.004), but not after indexing by cardiac length (p=0.331). Strain was similar in ATH and CON in 8 of 12 LV myocardial segments. In septum and anteroseptum, basal and mid-ventricular s' was 6-7% and 17-19% higher in ATH than in CON (p<0.05), respectively, while s' was 12% higher in CON in the basal LV lateral wall (p=0.013). After indexing by cardiac length, s' was only higher in ATH in the mid-ventricular septum (p=0.041).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found differences between trained and untrained females in segmental systolic myocardial function, but not in global measures of systolic function, including cardiac synchrony. These findings give new insights into cardiac adaptation to endurance training and could also be of use for sports cardiologists evaluating female athletes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Physiology and Department of Medical and Health Sciences , Linköping University , Linköping , Sweden.
authors.forename: Kristofer
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hedman
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery and Department of Medical and Health Sciences , Linköping University , Linköping , Sweden.
authors.forename: Éva
authors.initials: É
authors.lastname: Tamás
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Health Sciences , Linköping University , Linköping ; Department of Clinical Physiology , County Hospital Ryhov , Jönköping , Sweden.
authors.forename: Niclas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bjarnegård
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping and Department of Clinical Physiology, County Hospital, Kalmar, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Brudin
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Physiology and Department of Medical and Health Sciences , Linköping University , Linköping , Sweden.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nylander
keywords: Athlete's Heart; Echocardiography; Endurance Exercise; Exercise Training; Sports Cardiology