MiscellaneousAtrial Remodeling, Autonomic Tone, and Lifetime Training Hours in Nonelite Athletes
Section snippets
Methods
The Grand Prix of Bern is 1 of the most popular 10-mile races in Switzerland with >25,000 participants. Nonelite athletes were recruited by an open invitation letter published on the 2010 events homepage. All athletes applied by e-mail and provided age, endurance training years, and average endurance and strength training hours per week. Calculation of average training hours was based on athletes' estimation and/or exercise diary. Measurement of training years started in adulthood (≥18 years).
Results
Four hundred ninety-two men applied for participation and 70 were randomly selected. Ten runners had to be excluded (8 could not participate in the race because of muscular problems, 1 had mitral valve prolapse, and 1 had an undiagnosed arterial hypertension with diastolic dysfunction). Sixty runners entered the final analysis. Mean age was 42 ± 7 years. Thirty-eight runners (63%) participated in marathon events (1 to 30, mean 8 ± 7). Main type of exercise training was aerobic endurance
Discussion
Our study confirmed the results of previous investigations that endurance training is associated with left atrial enlargement.11, 13, 27 In addition, we showed a significant prolongation of signal-averaged P-wave duration in the high training group. For sedentary healthy men 40 years of age, mean signal-averaged P-wave durations of 117 to 122 ms have been published.18, 28 Patients with paroxysmal AF had mean P-wave durations of 145 ms.18 In our study, even the low and medium training groups had
Acknowledgment
The authors thank Max Burri, Alfred Dworzak, and Roger Steiner, MD, for their logistic support.
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