Cardiac Adaptations (Structural and Functional) to Regular Mountain Activities in Middle-aged Men

Abstract

Abstract Background: Physical exercise is an important and effective part of comprehensive care of seniors, which declines aging progression. Because of the importance of physical activity in cardiovascular diseases prevention this study intends to investigate the comparision of structural and functional characterictics of the heart between middle- aged montaineer men and non-athlete peers. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional and descriptive–analytical study, 13 middle- aged montaineer (age: 54.5±2.0 y, body mass index: 25.59±2.4 kg/m2) who have continues mountain activities during previous 24 months for at least 2 sessions per week, each session lasted 120 minute, and 14 sedentary, healthy peers (age: 54.1±2.2 y, body mass index: 26.8±2.3 kg/m2) who were not currently experiencing any regular physical activity (at least 6 months), were selected. All subjects underwent standard two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography at rest. Cardio respiratory fitness was assessed using Bruce test. T test was used to compare groups with α=0.05. Results: The results showed that mountain activities significantly increased left ventricular mass (p=0.03) and left-ventricular-end-diastolic-diameter (p=0.04). We also observed that systolic blood pressure (p=0.04), ejection fraction (p=0.05), stroke volume (p=0.03) and cardio respiratory fitness (p=0.03) were significantly improved by mountain climbing. In some of parameters such as shortening fraction, interventicular septum and left ventricular posterior wall there were no significant differences between groups (p>0.05). Conclusion: These results suggest that regular mountain sports activities can have beneficial effects on structural and functional characterictics of the heart in middle-aged men.

Keywords

• Athlete’s heart
• Echocardiography
• Middle-aged men
• Mountain climbing