Athletes´ Heart: QTc Dispersion and Speckle Tracking Echocardiography

Sport-related differences in QT dispersion and echocardiographic parameters in male athletes

“…Namely, similar, 13 , 14 , 18 , 19 lower, 17 or even higher 16 , 20 corrected QTd measures have been reported in athletes compared to control groups. Inconsistent findings across studies potentially reflect disparities in QTd across sexes (male 13 , 14 , 16 , 18 – 20 and female 13 , 16 , 20 ), age groups (adolescent 16 , adult 13 , 14 , 17 , 19 , 20 , and middle-aged subjects 18 ), and sports (combat sports 13 , 18 , team ball sports 13 , 16 , 18 , racket sports 13 , 18 , track and field 13 , 14 , 18 – 20 , cycling 13 , swimming 18 , and gymnastics 18 ).…”

“…In this way, longer RR-intervals observed in long-distance runners, volleyball athletes, and football athletes were also accompanied by reduced QTd and corrected QTd compared to sedentary controls, powerlifters, and bodybuilders in our study. These findings contrast past observations reporting similar (adult male and female soccer athletes, runners, badminton athletes, basketball athletes, wrestlers, cyclists, handball athletes vs. sedentary controls, p = 0.7 13 ; adult male basketball athletes, fencing athletes, gymnasts, judokas, swimming athletes, tennis athletes, volleyball athletes, and track and field athletes vs. non-athletes, p > 0.05 14 ; middle-aged male distance runners vs. healthy controls, p = 0.6 18 ; adult male long-distance runners vs. sedentary controls; p = 0.6 19 ) or higher corrected QTd (male and female adolescent basketball athletes vs. untrained controls; p = 0.001 16 ; male and female, adult middle-distance runners and football athletes vs. sedentary controls, p < 0.001 20 ) in athletes from various sports compared to controls. Discrepancies in study findings may relate to several factors since exercise-induced adaptations produce varied cardiac remodeling in response to volume overload (during exercise involving isotonic muscle contractions) or pressure overload (during exercise involving isometric muscle contractions) 14 , 29 , as well as in male athletes compared to female athletes 14 , 29 , and in adults compared to adolescent or middle-aged athletes 29 .…”

“…While the available evidence suggests that exercise may affect echocardiographic parameters (including increased LV-end diastolic diameter 16 , 18 – 20 , LV end-systolic diameter 16 , LV-end diastolic and systolic volume 16 , LV mass 17 , 19 , 20 , posterior wall thickness 19 , 20 , septal wall thickness 20 , and LV ejection fraction 20 ) in athletes, research directly comparing between athletes and sedentary control groups has yielded equivocal findings pertaining to QTd 16 – 20 . Namely, similar, 13 , 14 , 18 , 19 lower, 17 or even higher 16 , 20 corrected QTd measures have been reported in athletes compared to control groups. Inconsistent findings across studies potentially reflect disparities in QTd across sexes (male 13 , 14 , 16 , 18 – 20 and female 13 , 16 , 20 ), age groups (adolescent 16 , adult 13 , 14 , 17 , 19 , 20 , and middle-aged subjects 18 ), and sports (combat sports 13 , 18 , team ball sports 13 , 16 , 18 , racket sports 13 , 18 , track and field 13 , 14 , 18 – 20 , cycling 13 , swimming 18 , and gymnastics 18 ).…”

“…Although athletes develop impressive LV tissue growth, it is unknown whether this exercise-induced LV hypertrophy is associated with increased QTd like that observed in patients with hypertensive myocardial hypertrophy 7 .Increased interest has emerged in quantifying QTd, either in isolation 13,14 or combined with echocardiographic parameters [15][16][17][18][19][20] in athletes and the general population. While the available evidence suggests that exercise may affect echocardiographic parameters (including increased LV-end diastolic diameter 16,[18][19][20] , LV endsystolic diameter 16 , LV-end diastolic and systolic volume 16 , LV mass 17,19,20 , posterior wall thickness 19,20 , septal wall thickness 20 , and LV ejection fraction 20 ) in athletes, research directly comparing between athletes and sedentary control groups has yielded equivocal findings pertaining to QTd [16][17][18][19][20] similar,13,14,18,19 lower,17 or even higher 16,20 corrected QTd measures have been reported in athletes compared to control groups. Inconsistent findings across studies potentially reflect disparities in QTd across sexes (male 13,14,16,[18][19][20] and female 13,16,20 ), age groups…”

“…Increased interest has emerged in quantifying QTd, either in isolation 13,14 or combined with echocardiographic parameters [15][16][17][18][19][20] in athletes and the general population. While the available evidence suggests that exercise may affect echocardiographic parameters (including increased LV-end diastolic diameter 16,[18][19][20] , LV endsystolic diameter 16 , LV-end diastolic and systolic volume 16 , LV mass 17,19,20 , posterior wall thickness 19,20 , septal wall thickness 20 , and LV ejection fraction 20 ) in athletes, research directly comparing between athletes and sedentary control groups has yielded equivocal findings pertaining to QTd [16][17][18][19][20] similar,13,14,18,19 lower,17 or even higher 16,20 corrected QTd measures have been reported in athletes compared to control groups. Inconsistent findings across studies potentially reflect disparities in QTd across sexes (male 13,14,16,[18][19][20] and female 13,16,20 ), age groups…”