Left ventricular diastolic function is enhanced after peak exercise in endurance‐trained adolescents as well as in their non‐trained controls

Summary The aims of the study were to explore the temporal change of cardiac function after peak exercise in adolescents, and to investigate how these functional changes relate to maximal oxygen uptake ( VO 2max ). The cohort consisted of 27 endurance‐trained adolescents aged 13–19 years, and 27 controls individually matched by age and gender. Standard echocardiography and colour tissue Doppler were performed at rest, and immediately after as well as 15 min after a maximal cardio pulmonary exercise test ( CPET ) on a treadmill. The changes in systolic and diastolic parameters after exercise compared to baseline were similar in both groups. The septal E/e′‐ratio increased immediately after exercise in both the active and the control groups (from 9·2 to 11·0; P <0·001, and from 8·7 to 10·2; P = 0·008, respectively). In a comparison between the two groups after CPET , the septal E/e′‐ratio was higher in the active group both immediately after exercise and 15 min later compared to the control group ( P = 0·007 and P = 0·006, respectively). We demonstrated a positive correlation between VO 2max and cardiac function including LVEF and E/e′ immediately after CPET , but the strongest correlation was found between VO 2max and LVEDV ( r = 0·67, P <0·001) as well as septal E/e′ ( r = 0·34, P = 0·013). Enhanced diastolic function was found in both groups, but this was more pronounced in active adolescents. The cardiac functional response to exercise, in terms of LVEF and E/e′, correlates with the increase in VO 2 uptake. These findings in trained as well as un‐trained teenagers have practical implications when assessing cardiac function.