Cardiac Remodeling in Middle-Aged Endurance Athletes and Recreationally Active Individuals: Challenges in Defining the “Athlete's Heart”

Chronic endurance exercise is known to elicit cardiac morphologic and functional adaptations collectively known as the “athlete's heart.”1 Yet the extent to which exercise burden and other phenotypic factors dictate the extent of cardiac remodeling remains understudied. While there are significant data in younger, elite athletes, reference values for cardiac morphology in long-standing, middle-aged endurance ath letes (EAs) performing high-volume exercise, particularly when compared with recreationally active adults (RECs) who perform recommended levels of physical activity, remain limited.
Source: Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography - Category: Cardiology Authors: Tags: Brief Research Communication Source Type: research