The Influence of Age and Exercise Training Status on Left Ventricular Systolic Twist Mechanics in Healthy Males-An Exploratory Study.

Age-related differences in twist may be mitigated with exercise training, although this remains inconclusive. Moreover, temporal left ventricular (LV) systolic twist mechanics, including early-systolic (twist), and beyond peak twist (twist) alone, have not been considered. Therefore, further insights are required to ascertain the influence of age and training status on twist mechanics across systole. Forty males were included and allocated into 1 of 4 groups based on age and training status: young recreationally active (Y, n = 9; 28 ± 5 years), old recreationally active (O, n = 10; 68 ± 6 years), young trained (Y, n = 10; 27 ± 6 years), and old trained (O, n = 11, 64 ± 4 years) groups. Two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography was performed to determine LV twist mechanics, including twist, twist, and total twist (twist), by considering the nadir on the twist time-curve during early systole. Twist was calculated by subtracting twist from their peak values. LV twist was higher in older than younger men ( = 0.036), while twist was lower in the trained than recreationally-active ( = 0.004). Twist is underestimated compared with twist ( < 0.001), and when early-systolic mechanics were considered, to calculate twist, the age effect ( = 0.186) was dampened. LV twist was higher in older than younger age, with lower twist in exercise-trained than recreationally-active males. Twist is underestimated when twist is not considered, with novel observations demonstrating that the age effect was dampened when considering twist. These findings elucidated a smaller age effect when early phases of systole are considered, while lower LV systolic mechanics were observed in older aged trained than recreationally-active males.