Institute of Cardiology and Sports Medicine, German Sport University Cologne, Am Sportpark Müngersdorf 6, 50933, Cologne, Germany.
Molecular and Cellular Sports Medicine, German Sport University Cologne, Am Sportpark Müngersdorf 6, 50933, Cologne, Germany.
Eur J Appl Physiol. 2021 Jul;121(7):1889-1898. doi: 10.1007/s00421-021-04662-z. Epub 2021 Mar 13.
Measures of arterial stiffness (AS) and central blood pressure (BP) are indicators for cardiovascular health and possess a high prognostic value in the prediction of cardiovascular events. The effects of physical training are widely unexplored in the context of competitive, high-performance sports. Therefore, we aimed to present possible reference values of brachial and central BP and of AS of adult elite athletes compared to a control group.
A total of 189 subjects participated in this cross-sectional study. Of these were 139 adult elite athletes (70 male, 69 female) performing on top-national and international level, and 50 control subjects (26 male, 24 female). Resting brachial and central BP and aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV) were measured and were compared in terms of sex, sport category, and age of the athletes.
Results show no difference between athletes and controls in any parameter. Women exhibit lower brachial and central BP and AS values compared to men. PWV is positively correlated with age. Evaluation of the parameters according to the different sport categories showed that endurance athletes exhibit lower BP and PWV compared to other athletes.
This study presents brachial and central BP and PWV values of athletes, suggesting that high-performance sport does not negatively impact AS. The proposed reference values might support a more detailed evaluation of elite athlete's cardiovascular and hemodynamic system and a better assignment to possible risk groups.
动脉僵硬度（AS）和中心血压（BP）的测量指标是心血管健康的指标，在预测心血管事件方面具有很高的预后价值。在竞技性、高性能运动的背景下，身体训练的影响还在广泛探索中。因此，我们旨在为成年精英运动员与对照组相比的肱动脉和中心 BP 以及 AS 的可能参考值提供参考。
共有 189 名受试者参与了这项横断面研究。其中包括 139 名成年精英运动员（70 名男性，69 名女性），他们在国家级和国际级水平上表现出色，以及 50 名对照组受试者（26 名男性，24 名女性）。测量了静息肱动脉和中心 BP 以及主动脉脉搏波速度（PWV），并根据运动员的性别、运动类别和年龄对这些参数进行了比较。
结果显示，在任何参数方面，运动员和对照组之间均无差异。女性的肱动脉和中心 BP 以及 AS 值均低于男性。PWV 与年龄呈正相关。根据不同的运动类别评估参数表明，耐力运动员的 BP 和 PWV 低于其他运动员。
本研究提出了运动员的肱动脉和中心 BP 以及 PWV 值，表明高性能运动不会对 AS 产生负面影响。建议的参考值可能有助于更详细地评估精英运动员的心血管和血液动力学系统，并更好地将其分配到可能的风险组中。
