Endurance exercise may increase the risk of arrhythmias, conduction tissue disease, and adverse cardiac remodeling through a complex interplay of sporting discipline, genetics, and acquired factors.
Does endurance exercise increase the risk of cardiac arrhythmias and adverse remodelling in athletes?
This review highlights emerging evidence that excessive endurance exercise may be associated with an increased risk of arrhythmias and adverse cardiac remodeling in athletes.
Regular exercise confers health benefits with cardiovascular mortality risk reduction through a variety of mechanisms. At a population level, evidence suggests that undertaking more exercise has greater benefits. In the modern era of sport, there has been an exponential rise in professional and amateur athletes participating in endurance events, with a progressively better understanding of the associated cardiac adaptations, collectively termed 'athletes heart'. However, emerging data raise questions regarding the risk of potential harm from endurance exercise, with an increased risk of arrhythmia from adverse cardiac remodelling. Cross-sectional studies have demonstrated that athletes may exhibit a higher burden of AF, conduction tissue disease, ventricular arrhythmias, a cardiomyopathy-like phenotype and coronary artery disease. In an attempt to separate myth from reality, this review reports on the evidence supporting the notion of 'too much exercise', the purported mechanisms of exercise-induced cardiac arrhythmia and complex interplay with sporting discipline, demographics, genetics and acquired factors.
Fyyaz et al. (Mon,) conducted a review in Exercise-induced cardiac arrhythmia. Endurance exercise was evaluated. Endurance exercise may increase the risk of arrhythmias, conduction tissue disease, and adverse cardiac remodeling through a complex interplay of sporting discipline, genetics, and acquired factors.