Correlation of body composition and aerobic capacity with heart rate variability in Indian elite soccer players

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between Heart Rate Variability (HRV) indexes with body composition and aerobic capacity (VO2max) in Indian Elite soccer players. Methods: 115 male soccer players were recruited and all the subjects were measured for age: 16.8 ± 3.11; height: 167.85 ± 8.27; weight: 57.05 ± 10.66; BMI: 20.16 ± 3.02; body fat %, lean body mass and anthropometry profiling. The aerobic performance was measured using a 20-meter shuttle run test (20 MSRT) for VO2max. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) was recorded (RMSSD, pNN50%, LF, HF, LH/HF ratio) at a resting state (~5 minutes) using the Heartware Shimmer ECG device. The Pearson correlation coefficient for % BF and VO2max with heart rate variability was calculated. Result: The result revealed a highly significant negative correlation between VO2max with Body fat% (4-site skinfold) at (p<0.01; r = -.280), while Body fat %( 4-fold) showed strong significant positive correlation with BMI (p<0.01; r= .631). Resting heart rate showed strong significant negative correlation with SDNN and positive correlation with Body fat % (4-fold) with their r- values at -.318 and .258 respectively (p<0.01).