Cardiac Troponin T Release after Football 7 in Healthy Children and Adults

Abstract

The objective of this study was to compare the release of cardiac troponin T (cTnT) after a football 7 match between two cohorts of children and adult players. Thirty-six male football players (children = 24, adult = 12) played a football 7 match, and cTnT was measured before, and 3 h after exercise. Concentrations of cTnT were compared between groups and time, and correlated with participants’ characteristics, as well as internal and external exercise load. Cardiac troponin T was elevated in all participants (p < 0.001), and exceeded the upper reference limit for myocardial infarction in 25 (~70%) of them. Baseline concentrations were higher in adults (p < 0.001), but the elevation of cTnT was comparable between the groups (p = 0.37). Age (p < 0.001), body mass (p = 0.001) and height (p < 0.001), and training experience (p = 0.001) were associated to baseline cTnT values, while distance (p < 0.001), mean speed (p < 0.001), and peak (p = 0.013) and mean (p = 0.016) heart rate were associated to the elevation of cTnT. The present study suggests that a football 7 match evoked elevations of cTnT during the subsequent hours in healthy players regardless of their age. However, adults might present higher resting values of cTnT than children. In addition, results suggest that the exercise-induced elevations of cTnT might be mediated by exercise load but not participant characteristics.

Cardiac Troponin-T Release After Sport and Differences by Age, Sex, Training Type, Volume, and Intensity: A Critical Review

“…Data on children and adolescents 8,9,16,25,31,[36][37]52,64 confirm the findings observed in adults. A systematic review 1 and meta-analysis including 336 adolescents (mean age 15.1 6 2.3 years) demonstrated that cTnT and cTnI had a similar kinetic of postexercise peaks (at 2-5 hours for cTnT and 3-6 hours for cTnI).…”

“…8 In a meta-analysis including 14 studies and 336 adolescents, 1 age had a negative correlation with cTnT postexercise increase ( P < 0.01) and no correlation with cTnI ( P = 0.33). In a study 9 on 12 adults (37.5 ± 12.7 years) and 24 adolescents (10.7 ± 1.6 years) after football-7, age ( P < 0.01), body mass ( P = 0.001), and height ( P < 0.001) were associated with baseline cTnT values, but not with postexercise peaks values. The effects of sex have been poorly investigated, 8,23,26,32,45,63 and female athletes are usually underrepresented in studies on athletes.…”

“…Regardless of the method used to define the training level, there is consensus 20,23,29,32 that lower trained athletes are those with higher postexercise cTn rise. Regarding the potential influence of age and sex, a few data are available for children and adolescents, 1,8,9,16,25,31,36,52,64 whereas the evidence in women is very limited. 8,27,42,45,50,58,64 The influence of ethnicity has not been evaluated so far, and data in non-White are extremely limited.…”

Influence of maturational status in the exercise-induced release of cardiac troponin T in healthy young swimmers

“…5,24 It has been reported that these values might vary depending on age and sex, 25 and previously suggested the need to report on age-and sex-specific population cTn values in children and adolescents. 26 In this regard, previous studies found similar baseline concentrations of cTn between adolescent and adult athletes, 7,8,27 and among adolescent athletes at different maturational stages. 7,9,12 However, in the present study we found that swimmers at Tanner-V had higher resting cTnT than those in I -III, and swimmers in Tanner-IV higher than those in II (Table 1), suggesting that normal values might be higher during late-puberty.…”

“…These differences, together with the ones found in the group of non-detected, coincide with previous findings, suggesting that the highest cTnT elevations (both, ∆ Post 0h and ∆ Post 3h) occur in better trained athletes (experience, HR max), 18,28 that achieve higher exercise internal loads (% HR peak and % HR mean) during the test. 4,27 This suggests that not only maturation but also other factors affect the magnitude of increase in cTnT after intense exercise. In spite of that, training status and exercise load could only partially explain the high variability in the exercise-induced elevation of cTnT.…”