Features of cardiac remodeling depending on the mode of training session

Abstract

Different types of physiological adaptation of the heart in athletes are formed depending on the specifics of sports activities. In cyclic, mostly aerobic training athletes (long-distance running, skiing, swimming), left ventricular (LV) dilation with a proportional increase in its wall thickness are mainly developed. Athletes participating in sports with mostly static or isometric component (weightlifters, wrestlers, throwers) develop concentric hypertrophy with increased LV wall thickness without changes in the cavity size. However, changes in the heart geometry in athletes are not limited to eccentric or concentric LV hypertrophy. The aim of this work was to study the features of athletes' heart remodeling depending on the mode of training session (endurance, speed, strength). Material and methods. After the signing of the informed consent, 104 athletes (84 men and 20 women) were involved in the study: 63-athletes who mainly trained endurance performance, 31-strength athletes, 10-speed athletes. The mean age of the athletes was 21.75 3.32 years. Among them, there were Masters of Sports of International Class (MSIC)-2 athletes, Masters of Sports (MS)-25, Candidates Master of Sports (CMS)-48, First-Class athletes-29. All the athletes underwent M-and B-mode echocardiographic examination, Doppler interrogation of transvalvular flows and tissue Doppler imaging. Results. In the endurance athletes, unlike the strength athletes, the diameter of the left atrium (P=0.019) and the right ventricle (P=0.004) as well as left ventricular myocardial mass index (LVMMI) (P=0.004) prevailed, all other indicators showed no differences. In the endurance athletes, unlike the speed athletes, interventricular septal thickness (IVST) (P=0.015), LVMMI (P=0.003), left ventricle ejection fraction (LV EF) (P=0.035) and pressure gradient in the aorta (P=0.024) prevailed. In the strength athletes, unlike the speed athletes, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter was 10.8 % (P=0.004) larger. The largest left atrial diameter was detected in the endurance athletes, the smallest one-in the strength athletes (P=0.019). Conclusions. Despite long-term exercise, normal left ventricular geometry remained in 90 % (9/10) of the speed athletes, in 74.2 % (23/31) of the strength athletes, in 46.0 % (29/63) of the endurance athletes (P=0.012). Left ventricular hypertrophy most commonly occurred in the endurance athletes, unlike the strength athletes (47.6 % vs. 25.8 %, P=0.044). Eccentric hypertrophy significantly prevailed over concentric type in the structure of hypertrophy in both the endurance athletes (34.9 % vs. 12.7 %, P=0.045, respectively) and strength athletes (22.6 % vs. 3.2 %, P=0.023, respectively).