Peripheral Vessels Unit, Special Heart Centre for Young and Athletes and Unit of Inherited Cardiac Diseases, 1st Department of Cardiology, Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece.
Am J Hypertens. 2010 Sep;23(9):974-9. doi: 10.1038/ajh.2010.99. Epub 2010 May 20.
Regular aerobic exercise has beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system. Marathon running is an aerobic and extremely vigorous exercise. Arterial stiffness and wave reflections are independent predictors of cardiovascular risk. We investigated the acute effect of marathon race on aortic stiffness and wave reflections, as well as possible chronic alterations of these indexes in marathon runners.
We studied 49 marathon runners (age 38 +/- 9 years) and 46 recreationally active control subjects (age 37 +/- 5 years). To investigate the acute effect of marathon race, a subgroup of 20 runners was evaluated after the race as well. Aortic stiffness was evaluated with carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) and wave reflections with augmentation index (AIx).
Marathon runners had significantly higher systolic, diastolic, pulse (both aortic and brachial), and mean pressures compared to controls (P < 0.05 for all). Marathon runners had significantly higher PWV (6.89 m/s vs. 6.33 m/s, P < 0.01), whereas there was no difference in AIx and AIx corrected for heart rate (AIx@75) compared to controls (13.8% vs. 13.9%, P = 0.985 and 8.2% vs. 10.3%, P = 0.340, respectively). Marathon race caused a significant fall in both AIx (12.2% vs. -5.8%, P < 0.001) and AIx@75 (7.0% vs. 0.0%, P = 0.01), whereas PWV did not change significantly (6.66 m/s vs. 6.74 m/s, P = 0.690). Aortic and brachial systolic, diastolic, and mean pressures were also decreased (P < 0.05).
A significant fall in wave reflections was observed after marathon race, whereas aortic stiffness was not altered. Moreover, marathon runners have increased aortic stiffness and pressures, whereas wave reflections indexes do not differ compared to controls.
有规律的有氧运动对心血管系统有有益影响。马拉松跑是一种有氧的、极其剧烈的运动。动脉僵硬度和波反射是心血管风险的独立预测因子。我们研究了马拉松比赛对主动脉僵硬度和波反射的急性影响，以及马拉松运动员这些指标的可能慢性变化。
我们研究了 49 名马拉松运动员（年龄 38 ± 9 岁）和 46 名有规律运动的对照组（年龄 37 ± 5 岁）。为了研究马拉松比赛的急性影响，还评估了 20 名跑步者的亚组。用颈动脉-股动脉脉搏波速度（PWV）评估主动脉僵硬度，用增强指数（AIx）评估波反射。
与对照组相比，马拉松运动员的收缩压、舒张压、脉搏（主动脉和肱动脉）和平均压均显著升高（均 P < 0.05）。马拉松运动员的 PWV 显著升高（6.89 m/s 比 6.33 m/s，P < 0.01），但 AIx 和 AIx 校正心率（AIx@75）与对照组无差异（13.8%比 13.9%，P = 0.985 和 8.2%比 10.3%，P = 0.340）。马拉松比赛导致 AIx（12.2%比-5.8%，P < 0.001）和 AIx@75（7.0%比 0.0%，P = 0.01）显著降低，而 PWV 无显著变化（6.66 m/s 比 6.74 m/s，P = 0.690）。主动脉和肱动脉收缩压、舒张压和平均压也降低（P < 0.05）。
马拉松比赛后观察到波反射明显下降，而主动脉僵硬度没有改变。此外，与对照组相比，马拉松运动员的主动脉僵硬度和压力增加，而波反射指数没有差异。
