Title: The <scp>S</scp>candinavian athlete's heart; echocardiographic characteristics of male professional football players
Abstract: This investigation explores the cardiac four‐chamber remodeling response to training in male players in N orwegian professional football league, and ethnicity as determinants in the development of athlete's heart. Standard 2 D echocardiographic examination and analysis of all four cavities were performed in 504 football players of C aucasian origin, 49 of A frican origin, and 47 matched C aucasian controls (<3 h training /week). All results were indexed to body surface area ( BSA ). Most athletes exhibited BSA ‐indexed values within normal ranges. Left ventricle ( LV ) mass was equally enlarged in both groups of athletes, but LV relative wall thickness and right ventricular ( RV ) relative wall thickness were increased in A fricans compared with C aucasian athletes (0.37 ± 0.06 vs 0.33 ± 0.06 and 0.25 ± 0.06 vs 0.22 ± 0.04, respectively). Both LV and RV were smaller in Africans than in C aucasian athletes (67.8 ± 12.0 ml/m 2 vs 73.6 ± 13.2 ml/m 2 and 12.8 ± 2.1 vs 13.7 ± 2.4 cm 2 /m 2 , respectively, both P < 0.05), while left and right atria increased similarly. This first large‐scale echocardiographic survey of elite football players in a S candinavian league suggests use of BSA ‐indexed upper normal limits for both LV and RV in athletes. A frican athletes had significantly more concentric remodeled LV and RV than the C aucasian athletes.
Publication Year: 2014
Publication Date: 2014-01-29
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref', 'pubmed']
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Cited By Count: 17
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