Normative values for heart rate response to exercise in young athletes at 10–18 years old

ABSTRACT

The assessment of the chronotropic response during acute physical exertion can allow the discovery of many cardiovascular diseases even at a young age. However, the increase in heart rate (HR) depends on the age and sex of the subject and the modality of the graded exercise test. This study aims to provide sex- and age-related normative values for heart rate performance in young athletes aged 10–18. A retrospective study was carried out on 7896 young athletes (5356 males and 2540 females) aged between 10 and 18 who underwent pre-participation screening to obtain eligibility for competitive sport. First, anthropometric parameters, performance data, and HR are reported. Thus, each age calculated third, tenth, twenty-fifth, fiftieth, seventy-fifth, ninetieth, and ninety-seventh percentiles for the stage-by-stage HR response, according to sex and graded exercise test modality category. Young female athletes of all ages showed lower performance with fewer stages performed on the cycle ergometer and the treadmill. Young male athletes on treadmill and cycle ergometers show lower HR values at submaximal intensities. The treadmill allows a longer duration than the cycle ergometer for males and females. Sex, age, and the specificity of the movement performed must be considered in assessing the chronotropic response in the young population, particularly for those who carry out a training program. In addition, providing reference values of HR response to acute physical exertion may allow for a better functional assessment of the young athletes.

Highlights

• Growth and physical training induce continuous changes in the cardiovascular system. However, each young athlete shows individual features. The chronotropic response to incremental load is a common method for assessing health and fitness.

• Comparing the heart rate data obtained from the incremental effort with the reference percentiles can provide information in a short time in the evaluation of young athletes and the general youth population. Therefore, this methodology is regularly performed in the evaluation of anthropometric growth.

• In evaluating the chronotropic response to physical exertion, in addition to age and sex, should take the specificity of the movement performed during the test into account.

KEYWORDS:

• Cardiovascular/cardiorespiratory
• children
• testing
• youth

Conflicts of interest/competing interests

The authors have no financial or proprietary interests in any material discussed in this article.

Availability of data and material

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.

Ethics approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved in the [anonymised] with the number [anonymised]. All data were processed anonymously.

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from legal guardians.

Consent to publish

Patients signed informed consent regarding publishing their data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.