Effect of aerobic exercise on physiological and left ventricular echocardiographic characteristics of non-athletic adult males in northern Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Regular aerobic exercise can induce alterations in structural and hemodynamic physiology of the heart in both athletic and nonathletic populations. This is because due to cardiac adaptation to exercise improves cardiac workout capacity by increasing left ventricular function. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of aerobic exercise on blood pressure and left ventricular structural and myocardial function in Ethiopian non-athletic males. METHODS: Twenty male adults (aged 19-23 years) were recruited and they were engaged in aerobic exercise training for 3 months (3 days/week, 50-75%MHR). Selected participants underwent standard transthoracic doppler echocardiographic examinations before and after intervention of the exercise training. Collected data were analyzed through Paired Sample T test using IBM SPSS version 21 statistical software with significance level set at P<0.05. RESULTS: Finding of the study indicated that significant reduction in systolic and diastolic blood pressure was observed after exercise training (P<0.05). Improvement was recorded in PWT (7.4±0.94 mm vs. 7.95±0.61 mm, P=0.017) and IVST (7.95±0.83mm vs 8.25±0.72 mm, P=0.030) while significant reduction was recorded in LVIDS (33.85±0.99 mm vs. 32.45±2.04 mm, P=0.002). Aerobic exercises also induced significant improvement on left ventricular myocardial function parameters (P<0.05) in end diastolic volume (95.8±8.4 mL vs. 100.45±11.42 mL), stroke volume (52.55±7.12 mL vs. 58.15±11.18 mL) and ejection fraction (54.73±4.11 vs. 57.53±6.2). However, exercise didn't stimulate significant change in the internal diameter at end diastole (0.086), end systolic volume (P=0.173) and cardiac output (P=0.13). CONCLUSIONS: Aerobic exercise induces structural and myocardial physiological changes within the left ventricle in Ethiopian non-athletic young adult males.