Comparison of central hemodynamic parameters for young basketball athletes and control group

Abstract

Background: Long-term exercise training may have negative effects on cardiovascular functions. Measurement and calculation of central hemodynamic parameters can comprehensively evaluate the cardiovascular functions. This study aims to compare the central hemodynamics between young basketball athletes and matched controls.

Methods: Total 19 young long-term trained male basketball athletes and 17 matched male recreationally active controls participated. The central hemodynamic parameters such as central blood pressure, pulse pressure, heart rate (HR), augmentation index normalised to 75 bpm (AIx@HR75), augmentation index (AIx), ejection duration (ED), sub-endocardial viability ratio (SEVR) were measured, and total peripheral resistance (TPR), stroke volume (SV) and cardiac output (CO) were calculated. Non-parameter tests and t-test were used to analyse the central hemodynamic parameters between athletes and controls.

Results: HR (56 ± 5 bpm versus 79 ± 9 bpm, p < .001), AIx@HR75 (−8 ± 10% versus −1 ± 10%, p < .05), ED (28 ± 2% versus 36 ± 3%, p < .001) and TPR (0.004 ± 0.006 mmHg s/mL versus 0.012 ± 0.006 mmHg s/mL, p < .001) were significantly lower in basketball athletes compared to the controls. SEVR (231 ± 32% versus 159 ± 21%, p < .001) and SV (154 ± 50 mL versus 101 ± 43 mL, p < .01) were significantly higher in basketball athletes than those in the controls. However, there were no significant differences in central blood pressure, pulse pressure, AIx and CO between them.

Conclusions: There is no negative effect on central hemodynamics in young basketball athletes after long-term exercise training. The young basketball athletes have a higher myocardial perfusion, higher efficiency of blood supply, stronger vascular functions and better balance of myocardial oxygen of supply and demand than the controls in this central hemodynamic parameters analysis.

Keywords:

• Central hemodynamics
• young basketball athlete
• endocardial perfusion
• blood supply
• vascular functions

Acknowledgements

The authors thank basketball coaches for their kind assistance in this study. Thanks to all of the volunteers for providing invaluable pulse data.

Disclosure statement

The authors declared no conflict of interest.

We declare that we have no financial and personal relationships with other people or organisations that can inappropriately influence our work, there is no professional or other personal interest of any nature or kind in any product, service and/or company that could be construed as influencing the position presented in, or the review of, the manuscript entitled ‘comparison of central hemodynamic parameters for young basketball athletes and control group’.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [No. 61773110, No. 61374015, No. 61202258], the Ph.D. Programs Foundation of Ministry of Education of China [No. 20110042120037] and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [N161904002]