Professional soccer players exhibit larger indexed left atrial end-systolic volume (41 ± 9 ml/m² vs. 31 ± 7 ml/m², p<0.001) but normal atrial strain function compared to controls.
Does professional athletic training alter left atrial strain and remodeling compared to healthy controls?
Professional athletes exhibit physiological left atrial enlargement and reduced active contraction strain, but preserved reservoir and conduit strain, indicating normal adaptation to high cardiac output demands.
Absolute Event Rate: 0% vs 0%
Abstract Background Left atrial (LA) strain, measured by speckle-tracking echocardiography, provides insights into cardiac function beyond traditional volumetric assessments. In athletes, the effects of chronic exercise on LA strain are unclear, with conflicting findings on whether it reflects physiological adaptation or potential dysfunction. Aims This study aimed to comprehensively assess LA remodeling and function in professional soccer players compared to controls. We hypothesized that while athletes would exhibit LA enlargement, their atrial function would remain preserved due to the physiological nature of cardiac remodeling in this population. Methods A retrospective analysis of echocardiographic parameters, namely left atrial strain, was carried out in a group of professional male athletes compared to a control group of healthy male individuals. A GE Vivid E95 echocardiographic ultrasound system and EchoPAC V.206 software (GE Vingmed Ultrasound AS, Horten, Norway) were used. Shapiro-Wilk test was used to test data distribution, ANOVA and t-test were used as a parametric tests, and Man-Whitney as a non-parametric Test (SPSS v.27). Results The study analyzed 111 athletes with a median age of 24 (21-31) years and 70 healthy male individuals from the control group with a median age of 27 (23-32) years. Athletes had a significantly higher indexed left atrial end-systolic volume compared to the control group (41 ± 9 ml/m² vs. 31 ± 7 ml/m², p0.001). Despite the difference in volume, the early and late diastolic tissue velocities were similar in both groups and E/E’ was lower (4.4 ± 0.9 vs. 5.0 (4.5-5.8), p0.001). There were no significant differences between athletes and the control group in Left Atrial Reservoir Strain (LASr) and Left Atrial Conduit Strain (LAScd). The active contraction of the left atrium during atrial systole is reduced in athletes, which had a significantly lower left atrial contraction strain compared to the control group (-9 (-11 – -8)% vs. -12 ± 4%, p0.001). Conclusion The data suggests that athletes' hearts have undergone specific adaptations, particularly in terms of increased left atrial size and altered contraction patterns. Maintaining atrial reservoir strain (the most validated parameter for normality) and atrial conduit strain within normal ranges may indicate that morphological changes are merely normal adaptations to the high cardiac output demands during exercise. Descriptive analysis LA strain example
Carvalho et al. (Wed,) reported a other. Professional soccer players exhibit larger indexed left atrial end-systolic volume (41 ± 9 ml/m² vs. 31 ± 7 ml/m², p<0.001) but normal atrial strain function compared to controls.