[Primary prevention and non-linearity in cardiovascular adaptation].

The size of the healthy heart and its function stand in a significant reciprocity. An enlargement of the heart in the sense of the formation of the athletic heart is characterized by an optimation of the function. On the basis of a larger sample the functional behaviour of healthy hearts between a size of 600 and 1,380 ml was tested. The function of the heart is not linearly connected with the size of the heat in the whole breadth of adaptation. When a small adaptation level is present a larger functional change is to be attached to a defined change of the size of the heart than in a high adaptation level. The curve of functional indices reveals a parabolic form above the size of the heart. This situation is present in rest, in submaximal load, in the phase of final load and in the phase of after-load. On the basis of representative parameters of the cardiovascular function this fact is demonstrated. The adaptation optimum is found nearly in the middle of the possible phase of adaptation. The author deals with the importance which these findings have for the primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases.