Aerobic capacity of professional soccer players before and after COVID-19 infection

Parpa, Koulla; Michaelides, Marcos

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-16031-7

Cited by 13 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…In contrast, the incidence and severity of COVID in athlete populations have been very scarcely described as they are not considered a population at risk. Most reports in young athletes emphasize decrease in sports performance after isolation or illness or describe small outbreaks of COVID in this population [ 14 , 20 , 33 - 45 ] which was not the case in our experience.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 65%

Impact and control of the COVID pandemic in an elite sports club: Real Madrid

Mihic¹,

Abascal²,

Chicharro³

et al. 2022

Rev Esp Quimioter

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The incidence and risk factors for poor outcome in patients with COVID are well known, as are the protective measures in high-risk populations. In contrast, the epidemiological and clinical behavior of this disease in the population of elite athletes who are the paradigm of good health is poorly understood. Data on COVID in athletes are scarce and have focused preferentially on the consequences on sports performance of confinement measures and on the pathophysiological risks of infected athletes. Real Madrid is a large elite sports institution with facilities in the City of Madrid where 600 athletes train daily. The incidence of COVID during a study period of 671 days of observation in athletes, professional or amateur, working in the institution has been 0,74 per 1,000 days of exposure. The disease has been asymptomatic or oligosymptomatic in all athletes and did not require any hospital admissions. The different teams did not have to suspend any of its sportive commitments for COVID during the study period and there was no evidence of outbreaks of internal transmission between members of the different teams.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 65%

Impact and control of the COVID pandemic in an elite sports club: Real Madrid

Mihic¹,

Abascal²,

Chicharro³

et al. 2022

Rev Esp Quimioter

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“…Preinfection fitness was an unmeasured confounder in all but 1 study 37 ; no studies had preinfection CPET to compare within-individual change. Two excluded studies among military recruits and professional athletes found reduced peak V ˙O2 at 45 to 60 days after infection compared with before infection 72,73. A few studies used stepwise regression despite small sample sizes and colinear variables, resulting in exclusion of important confounders.Only 2 studies26,38 estimated an adjusted difference in peak V ˙O2 between individuals with and without LC symptoms.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing to Evaluate Long COVID-19 Symptoms in Adults

et al. 2022

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ImportanceReduced exercise capacity is commonly reported among individuals with COVID-19 symptoms more than 3 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection (long COVID-19 [LC]). Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) is the criterion standard to measure exercise capacity and identify patterns of exertional intolerance.ObjectivesTo estimate the difference in exercise capacity among individuals with and without LC symptoms and characterize physiological patterns of limitations to elucidate possible mechanisms of LC.Data SourcesA search of PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, preprint servers, conference abstracts, and cited references was performed on December 20, 2021, and again on May 24, 2022. A preprint search of medrxiv.org, biorxiv.org, and researchsquare.com was performed on June 9, 2022.Study SelectionStudies of adults with SARS-CoV-2 infection more than 3 months earlier that included CPET-measured peak oxygen consumption (V̇o2) were screened independently by 2 blinded reviewers; 72 (2%) were selected for full-text review, and 35 (1%) met the inclusion criteria. An additional 3 studies were identified from preprint servers.Data Extraction and SynthesisData extraction was performed by 2 independent reviewers according to the PRISMA reporting guideline. Data were pooled using random-effects models.Main Outcomes and MeasuresDifference in peak V̇o2 (in mL/kg/min) among individuals with and without persistent COVID-19 symptoms more than 3 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection.ResultsA total of 38 studies were identified that performed CPET on 2160 individuals 3 to 18 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection, including 1228 with symptoms consistent with LC. Most studies were case series of individuals with LC or cross-sectional assessments within posthospitalization cohorts. Based on a meta-analysis of 9 studies including 464 individuals with LC symptoms and 359 without symptoms, the mean peak V̇o2 was −4.9 (95% CI, −6.4 to −3.4) mL/kg/min among those with symptoms with a low degree of certainty. Deconditioning and peripheral limitations (abnormal oxygen extraction) were common, but dysfunctional breathing and chronotropic incompetence were also described. The existing literature was limited by small sample sizes, selection bias, confounding, and varying symptom definitions and CPET interpretations, resulting in high risk of bias and heterogeneity.Conclusions and RelevanceThe findings of this systematic review and meta-analysis study suggest that exercise capacity was reduced more than 3 months after SARS-CoV-2 infection among individuals with symptoms consistent with LC compared with individuals without LC symptoms, with low confidence. Potential mechanisms for exertional intolerance other than deconditioning include altered autonomic function (eg, chronotropic incompetence, dysfunctional breathing), endothelial dysfunction, and muscular or mitochondrial pathology.

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“…Third, a significant decrease in the predicted VO2max was observed among the infected cohort (33.6 ± 11.2 mL/kg/min) compared to the non-infected cohort (44.9 ± 7.14 mL/kg/min), in spite of similar physical activity levels between the two cohorts. The reduced aerobic capacity is likely due to recent SARS-CoV-2 infection as decreases in VO2max have been observed in young adults and elite athletes, 1–2 months after symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection ( Parpa and Michaelides, 2022 ; Crameri et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%