TY - JOUR
T1 - The athlete's heart
T2 - allometric considerations on published papers and relation to cardiovascular variables
AU - Sejersen, Casper
AU - Volianitis, Stefanos
AU - Secher, Niels H
N1 - © 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2024/5
Y1 - 2024/5
N2 - To evaluate the morphology of the "athlete's heart", left ventricular (LV) wall thickness (WT) and end-diastolic internal diameter (LVIDd) at rest were addressed in publications on skiers, rowers, swimmers, cyclists, runners, weightlifters (n = 927), and untrained controls (n = 173) and related to the acute and maximal cardiovascular response to their respective disciplines. Dimensions of the heart at rest and functional variables established during the various sport disciplines were scaled to body weight for comparison among athletes independent of body mass. The two measures of LV were related (r = 0.8; P = 0.04) across athletic disciplines. With allometric scaling to body weight, LVIDd was similar between weightlifters and controls but 7%-15% larger in the other athletic groups, while WT was 9%-24% enlarged in all athletes. The LVIDd was related to stroke volume, oxygen pulse, maximal oxygen uptake, cardiac output, and blood volume (r = ~ 0.9, P < 0.05), while there was no relationship between WT and these variables (P > 0.05). In conclusion, while cardiac enlargement is, in part, essential for the generation of the cardiac output and thus stroke volume needed for competitive endurance exercise, an enlarged WT seems important for the development of the wall tension required for establishing normal arterial pressure in the enlarged LVIDd.
AB - To evaluate the morphology of the "athlete's heart", left ventricular (LV) wall thickness (WT) and end-diastolic internal diameter (LVIDd) at rest were addressed in publications on skiers, rowers, swimmers, cyclists, runners, weightlifters (n = 927), and untrained controls (n = 173) and related to the acute and maximal cardiovascular response to their respective disciplines. Dimensions of the heart at rest and functional variables established during the various sport disciplines were scaled to body weight for comparison among athletes independent of body mass. The two measures of LV were related (r = 0.8; P = 0.04) across athletic disciplines. With allometric scaling to body weight, LVIDd was similar between weightlifters and controls but 7%-15% larger in the other athletic groups, while WT was 9%-24% enlarged in all athletes. The LVIDd was related to stroke volume, oxygen pulse, maximal oxygen uptake, cardiac output, and blood volume (r = ~ 0.9, P < 0.05), while there was no relationship between WT and these variables (P > 0.05). In conclusion, while cardiac enlargement is, in part, essential for the generation of the cardiac output and thus stroke volume needed for competitive endurance exercise, an enlarged WT seems important for the development of the wall tension required for establishing normal arterial pressure in the enlarged LVIDd.
KW - Athletes
KW - Heart Ventricles/anatomy & histology
KW - Heart/physiology
KW - Humans
KW - Male
KW - Oxygen Consumption/physiology
KW - Sports/physiology
KW - Stroke Volume/physiology
KW - Left ventricular wall thickness
KW - Resistance exercise
KW - Endurance exercise
KW - Cardiac adaptation
KW - Stroke volume
KW - Left ventricular diameter
KW - Athlete’s heart
KW - Blood volume
KW - Scaling
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85187141680&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00421-024-05449-8
DO - 10.1007/s00421-024-05449-8
M3 - Review
C2 - 38466432
SN - 1439-6319
VL - 124
SP - 1337
EP - 1346
JO - European Journal of Applied Physiology
JF - European Journal of Applied Physiology
IS - 5
ER -