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 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024.

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

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 - Athlete’s heart

KW - Blood volume

KW - Cardiac adaptation

KW - Endurance exercise

KW - Left ventricular diameter

KW - Left ventricular wall thickness

KW - Resistance exercise

KW - Scaling

KW - Stroke volume

U2 - 10.1007/s00421-024-05449-8

DO - 10.1007/s00421-024-05449-8

M3 - Review

C2 - 38466432

AN - SCOPUS:85187141680

VL - 124

SP - 1337

EP - 1346

JO - European Journal of Applied Physiology

JF - European Journal of Applied Physiology

SN - 1439-6319

ER -