Cardiovascular Remodeling Experienced by Real-World, Unsupervised, Young Novice Marathon Runners

Insult of Ultraendurance Events on Blood Pressure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The rise of ultraendurance sports in the past two decades warrants evaluation of the impact on the heart and vessels of a growing number of athletes participating. Blood pressure is a simple, inexpensive method to evaluate one dimension of an athlete's cardiovascular health. No systematic review or meta-analysis to date has chronicled and delineated the effects of ultraendurance races, such as ultramarathons, marathons, half-marathons, and Ironman triathlon events, specifically on heart rate (HR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), pulse pressure (PP), and mean arterial pressure (MAP) measurements in supine and standing positions before and after the event. This meta-analysis reviews the effects of ultraendurance events on positional and calculated hemodynamic values. Data were extracted from 38 studies and analyzed using a random effects model with a total of 1,645 total blood pressure measurements. Of these, 326 values were obtained from a standing position, and 1,319 blood pressures were taken supine. Pre-race and post-race measurements were evaluated for clinical significance using established standards of hypotension and orthostasis. HR and calculated BP features, such as PP and MAP, were evaluated. Across all included studies, the mean supine post-race HR increased by 21±8 beats per minute (bpm) compared to pre-race values. The mean standing post-race HR increased by 23±14 bpm when compared with pre-race HR. Overall, there was a mean SBP decrease of 19±9 mmHg and a DBP decrease of 9±5 mmHg post-race versus pre-race values. MAP variations reflected SBP and DBP changes. The mean supine and standing pre-race blood pressures across studies were systolic (126±7; 124±14) and diastolic (76±6; 75±12), suggesting that some athletes may enter races with existing hypertension. The post-race increase in the mean HR and decline in mean blood pressure across examined studies suggest that during long-term events, ultramarathon athletes perform with relatively asymptomatic hypotension.

Assessment of right ventricular structure and systolic function in amateur marathon runners using three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography

Prolonged high-intensity endurance exercise has been reported to have adverse effects on the heart, which are further correlated with exercise dose. However, its effect on the right ventricle (RV) of amateur runners is unknown. This study aimed was to evaluate the early right ventricular structure and systolic function of amateur marathon runners by three-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (3D-STE), and to further analyze the correlation between relevant parameters and the amount of training. A total of 30 amateur marathon runners (marathon group) and 27 healthy volunteers (control group) were enrolled. Conventional echocardiography combined with 3D-STE was performed in all subjects, and the marathon group was screened by echocardiography a week before a marathon (V1), within 1 h post-marathon (V2), and 4 days post-marathon (V3). RV global longitudinal strain (GLS) and RV end-diastolic volume (EDV) increased significantly in the marathon group compared to the control group (P < 0.05). RV GLS was significantly decreased in the marathon group within 1 h post-marathon (V1: - 26.2 ± 2.5% vs V2: - 23.0 ± 1.6% vs V3: - 25.6 ± 2.6%, P < 0.001). However, there was no significant difference in RV ejection fraction (RVEF) (P > 0.05). The results of the correlation analysis showed that RV EDV and RV end-systolic volume (ESV) were positively correlated with the average training volume (P < 0.001). Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that average training volume was an independent predictor of RV EDV in amateur marathoners (β = 0.642, P < 0.001). The systolic function of the RV was enhanced in amateur marathon runners in the early stage, manifested by an increase in RV EDV. After a long period of high-intensity endurance exercise, RV systolic function will temporarily be reduced. 3D-STE can identify this subclinical change with high sensitivity and provide valuable information to assess the structure and function of RV in amateur marathon runners.

The metabolic recovery of marathon runners: an untargeted 1H-NMR metabolomics perspective

Introduction: Extreme endurance events may result in numerous adverse metabolic, immunologic, and physiological perturbations that may diminish athletic performance and adversely affect the overall health status of an athlete, especially in the absence of sufficient recovery. A comprehensive understanding of the post-marathon recovering metabolome, may aid in the identification of new biomarkers associated with marathon-induced stress, recovery, and adaptation, which can facilitate the development of improved training and recovery programs and personalized monitoring of athletic health/recovery/performance. Nevertheless, an untargeted, multi-disciplinary elucidation of the complex underlying biochemical mechanisms involved in recovery after such an endurance event is yet to be demonstrated. Methods: This investigation employed an untargeted proton nuclear magnetic resonance metabolomics approach to characterize the post-marathon recovering metabolome by systematically comparing the pre-, immediately post, 24, and 48 h post-marathon serum metabolite profiles of 15 athletes. Results and Discussion: A total of 26 metabolites were identified to fluctuate significantly among post-marathon and recovery time points and were mainly attributed to the recovery of adenosine triphosphate, redox balance and glycogen stores, amino acid oxidation, changes to gut microbiota, and energy drink consumption during the post-marathon recovery phase. Additionally, metabolites associated with delayed-onset muscle soreness were observed; however, the mechanisms underlying this commonly reported phenomenon remain to be elucidated. Although complete metabolic recovery of the energy-producing pathways and fuel substrate stores was attained within the 48 h recovery period, several metabolites remained perturbed throughout the 48 h recovery period and/or fluctuated again following their initial recovery to pre-marathon-related levels.

Limits of Cardiovascular Adaptation During an Extreme Ultramarathon: Insights From Serial Multidimensional, Multiparametric CMR

Extreme endurance athletic challenges provide unique opportunities to study the cardiovascular system's capacity for structural, functional, and hemodynamic adaptation. The authors present a case of a male subject who ran 2,469 km, with serial multiparametric cardiac magnetic resonance imaging used to demonstrate adaptive and maladaptive alterations in cardiac remodeling and myocardial tissue health. (Level of Difficulty: Advanced.).

Age matters: differences in exercise-induced cardiovascular remodelling in young and middle aged healthy sedentary individuals

AIMS

Remodelling of the cardiovascular system (including heart and vasculature) is a dynamic process influenced by multiple physiological and pathological factors. We sought to understand whether remodelling in response to a stimulus, exercise training, altered with healthy ageing.

METHODS

A total of 237 untrained healthy male and female subjects volunteering for their first time marathon were recruited. At baseline and after 6 months of unsupervised training, race completers underwent tests including 1.5T cardiac magnetic resonance, brachial and non-invasive central blood pressure assessment. For analysis, runners were divided by age into under or over 35 years (U35, O35).

RESULTS

Injury and completion rates were similar among the groups; 138 runners (U35: n = 71, women 49%; O35: n = 67, women 51%) completed the race. On average, U35 were faster by 37 minutes (12%). Training induced a small increase in left ventricular mass in both groups (3 g/m2, P < 0.001), but U35 also increased ventricular cavity sizes (left ventricular end-diastolic volume (EDV)i +3%; left ventricular end-systolic volume (ESV)i +8%; right ventricular end-diastolic volume (EDV)i +4%; right ventricular end-systolic volume (ESV)i +5%; P < 0.01 for all). Systemic aortic compliance fell in the whole sample by 7% (P = 0.020) and, especially in O35, also systemic vascular resistance (-4% in the whole sample, P = 0.04) and blood pressure (systolic/diastolic, whole sample: brachial -4/-3 mmHg, central -4/-2 mmHg, all P < 0.001; O35: brachial -6/-3 mmHg, central -6/-4 mmHg, all P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Medium-term, unsupervised physical training in healthy sedentary individuals induces measurable remodelling of both heart and vasculature. This amount is age dependent, with predominant cardiac remodelling when younger and predominantly vascular remodelling when older.

Recreational marathon running does not cause exercise-induced left ventricular hypertrabeculation

Background

Marathon running in novices represents a natural experiment of short-term cardiovascular remodeling in response to running training. We examine whether this stimulus can produce exercise-induced left ventricular (LV) trabeculation.

Methods

Sixty-eight novice marathon runners aged 29.5 ± 3.2 years had indices of LV trabeculation measured by echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging 6 months before and 2 weeks after the 2016 London Marathon race, in a prospective longitudinal study.

Results

After 17 weeks unsupervised marathon training, indices of LV trabeculation were essentially unchanged. Despite satisfactory inter-observer agreement in most methods of trabeculation measurement, criteria defining abnormally hypertrabeculated cases were discordant with each other. LV hypertrabeculation was a frequent finding in young, healthy individuals with no subject demonstrating clear evidence of a cardiomyopathy.

Conclusion

Training for a first marathon does not induce LV trabeculation. It remains unclear whether prolonged, high-dose exercise can create de novo trabeculation or expose concealed trabeculation. Applying cut off values from published LV noncompaction cardiomyopathy criteria to young, healthy individuals risks over-diagnosis.

•

Athletes often show excessive ventricular trabeculation.

•

It is unknown whether left ventricular noncompaction cardiomyopathy can be acquired.

•

It is proposed that trabeculation may result from athletic remodeling to exercise.

•

Imaging is prone to overdiagnosis of left ventricular noncompaction cardiomyopathy.

•

Recreational marathon running does not increase left ventricular trabeculation.