Parameters of the Diastolic Function in Athletes and in Non-Athletes: Pp.37.497

Introduction: Characteristics of the athlete's heart can be divided into three groups: Morphologic: LV hypertrophy, richer coronary capillary network. Functional: Better diastolic function (higher E/A ratio). Regulatory: Lower heart rate (HR) (training bradycardia). One of the most important effects of the sedentary way of life is its effect on the cardiovascular system. While left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy is a marked characteristic of the athlete's heart, in non-athletic subjects it is a predictor of cardiomyopathy and it can lead to sudden death. Objective: The main aim of the present study was to establish differences of the diastolic function and regulation between athletes and non-athletic subjects, as the most important factors to differentiate physiologic from pathologic LV hypertrophy. Design and Method: Subjects were male top-level triathlonists and young healthy subjects making no regular physical activity. First a 10 minutes long, 12-lead resting ECG was recorded to establish heart rate variability to obtain some information about the subjects’ “sympatho-vagal” activities. In the second step two-dimensionally guided M-mode, Doppler echo and TDI were performed to establish cardiac measures, flow velocities and diastolic function. Differences were calculated by t-test for independent samples. Results: Both in the traditional (2.05 ± 0.51 vs. 1.45 ± 0.52) and in the TDI measurements E/A was higher in the triathlonists (1,84 ± 0,57 vs. 1,25 ± 0,42) than in the non-athletes. HR was lower (55,64 ± 11.02 vs. 78.6 ± 22.85), the QT quotient (428 ± 43.90 vs. 359 ± 43.62), the van de Water formula corrected QT (418 ± 35.38 vs. 375 ± 27.43) and SDNN (205.50 ± 35.40 vs. 151.00 ± 35.84) was higher in the athletes. Conclusions: Top-level triathlon competitors showed functional and regulatory characteristics of the athlete's heart very markedly. Better results of TDI measurements indicated that triathlonists have really better relaxation ability, the higher E/A in traditional Doppler measurements is not only a consequence of the lower heart rate of athletes.