Blood volume and hemoglobin mass in endurance athletes from moderate altitude

Schmidt, Walter; Heinicke, Katja; Rojas, Juan David; Gómez, José Manuel Naranjo; Serrato, Mauricio; Mora, M. Marcela; Wolfarth, Bernd; Schmid, Andreas; Keul, J.

doi:10.1097/00005768-200212000-00012

Cited by 91 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The over-representation from the Rift Valley mirrors previous findings in elite Ethiopian marathon athletes, where 73% were from the Arsi and Shewa regions proximal to the Rift Valley. Regions proximal to the Rift Valley often lie at altitudes of over 2000 m above sea level, which might be haematologically beneficial in distance running (Schmidt et al, 2002). These findings support suggestions that the success of Kenyan runners is in some way linked to their close proximity to the Rift Valley (Entine, 2001).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

“…Although equivocal, some studies have concluded that chronic altitude exposure and endurance training, as experienced by many East African runners, combine synergistically to induce haematological adaptations which partially account for their success (Schmidt et al, 2002). A high proportion of elite Ethiopian runners originate from particularly altitudinous regions of Ethiopia (Scott et al, 2003), although this was not necessarily causal to their success.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Demographic characteristics of elite Kenyan endurance runners

Onywera

Scott

Boit

et al. 2006

Journal of Sports Sciences

131

159

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Kenyan athletes have dominated international distance running in recent years. Explanations for their success include favourable physiological characteristics, which could include favourable genetic endowment, and advantageous environmental conditions. The aim of this study was to compare the demographic characteristics of elite Kenyan runners with those of the general Kenyan population. Questionnaires, administered to 404 elite Kenyan runners specializing in distances ranging from the 800 m to the marathon and 87 Kenyan controls, obtained information on place of birth, language, and distance and method of travel to school. Athletes were separated into two groups according to athletic success: those who competed in international competition and those who competed in national competition. The athletes differed from controls in regional distribution, language, and distance and method of travel to school; athletes also differed from each other with the exception of method of travel to school. Most national and international athletes came from the Rift Valley province (controls 20%, national athletes 65%, international athletes 81%), belonged to the Kalenjin ethnic group (controls 8%, national athletes 49%, international athletes 76%) and Nandi sub-tribe (controls 5%, national athletes 25%, international athletes 44%), and spoke languages of Nilotic origin (controls 21%, national athletes 60%, international athletes 79%). A higher proportion of all athletes ran to school each day (controls 22%, national athletes 73%, international athletes 81%) and covered greater distances. In conclusion, Kenyan runners are from a distinctive environmental background in terms of geographical distribution, ethnicity and travelled further to school, mostly by running. These findings highlight the importance of environmental and social factors in the success of Kenyan runners.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Demographic characteristics of elite Kenyan endurance runners

Onywera

Scott

Boit

et al. 2006

Journal of Sports Sciences

131

159

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“…While Gore et al 12 suggested that world class endurance athletes might have ''maximised'' their total haemoglobin mass after many years of sea level training, Schmidt et al 19 recently reported significantly higher total haemoglobin mass in professional cyclists living at an altitude of 2600 m compared to professional cyclists living at sea level with similar Vo 2max , indicating that there is still potential for a further increase in total haemoglobin mass in sea level endurance athletes if they perform altitude training. The subjects in the present study were elite junior swimmers who undoubtedly still had the potential to increase total haemoglobin mass, whose erythropoiesis was not impaired by insufficient iron availability, and who lived and trained at an altitude high enough for a sufficient hypoxia induced increase in erythropoiesis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Individual variation in the erythropoietic response to altitude training in elite junior swimmers

Friedmann

2005

Br J Sports Med

114

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Objectives: Inter-individual variations in sea level performance after altitude training have been attributed, at least in part, to an inter-individual variability in hypoxia induced erythropoiesis. The aim of the present study was to examine whether the variability in the increase in total haemoglobin mass after training at moderate altitude could be predicted by the erythropoietin response after 4 h exposure to normobaric hypoxia at an ambient Po 2 corresponding to the training altitude. Methods: Erythropoietin levels were measured in 16 elite junior swimmers before and after 4 h exposure to normobaric hypoxia (Fio 2 0.15, ,2500 m) as well as repeatedly during 3 week altitude training (2100-2300 m). Before and after the altitude training, total haemoglobin mass (CO rebreathing) and performance in a stepwise increasing swimming test were determined. Results: The erythropoietin increase (10-185%) after 4 h exposure to normobaric hypoxia showed considerable inter-individual variation and was significantly (p,0.001) correlated with the acute erythropoietin increase during altitude training but not with the change in total haemoglobin mass (significant increase of ,6% on average). The change in sea level performance after altitude training was not related to the change in total haemoglobin mass. Conclusions:The results of the present prospective study confirmed the wide inter-individual variability in erythropoietic response to altitude training in elite athletes. However, their erythropoietin response to acute altitude exposure might not identify those athletes who respond to altitude training with an increase in total haemoglobin mass.

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“…Kenyan runners, particularly the international athletes, originate from a distinctive environmental background in terms of geographical distribution and ethnicity (Onywera et al, 2006). Living and training in the highlands of the Great Rift Valley partly contributes to the excellent performance in distance running because of chronic exposure to hypoxic conditions (Schmidt et al, 2002;Wilber & Pitsiladis, 2012). Additionally, athletes had to travel far to school when they were children, commonly by running.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Participation and performance trends in 100-km ultra-marathons worldwide

Cejka

Rüst

Lepers

et al. 2013

Journal of Sports Sciences

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The aims of the present study were to (1) investigate the participation trends for the origin of athletes competing in 100-km ultra-marathons and (2) determine the nationalities of athletes achieving the fastest 100-km race times worldwide. Race times and nationality from 112,283 athletes (15,204 women and 97,079 men) from 102 countries who completed a 100-km ultra-marathon worldwide between 1998 and 2011 were investigated using single-and multi-level regression analyses. The number of finishers increased exponentially, both for women and men. Most of the finishers (73.5%) were from Europe, in particular, France (30.4%). The number of finishers from Japan, Germany, Italy, Poland and the United States of America increased exponentially during the studied period. For women, runners from Canada became slower while those from Italy became faster over time. For men, runners from Belgium, Canada and Japan became slower. Between 1998 and 2011, the ten best race times were achieved by Japanese runners for both women with 457.1 (s = 28.8) min and men with 393.4 (s = 9.6) min. To summarise, most of the finishers in 100-km ultra-marathons originated from Europe, but the best performances belong to Japanese runners. Although East African runners dominate running up to a marathon, Japanese were the best in 100 km.

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Blood volume and hemoglobin mass in endurance athletes from moderate altitude

Abstract: In endurance athletes who are native to moderate altitude, tHb and BV were synergistically influenced by training and by altitude exposure, which is probably one important reason for their high performance.

Cited by 91 publications

References 27 publications

Demographic characteristics of elite Kenyan endurance runners

Demographic characteristics of elite Kenyan endurance runners

Individual variation in the erythropoietic response to altitude training in elite junior swimmers

Participation and performance trends in 100-km ultra-marathons worldwide

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