Cardiovascular adaptation in athletes

Richard Kovacs; Aaron L Baggish

doi:10.1016/j.tcm.2015.04.003

Cardiovascular adaptation in athletes

Trends Cardiovasc Med. 2016 Jan;26(1):46-52. doi: 10.1016/j.tcm.2015.04.003. Epub 2015 Apr 10.

Authors

Richard Kovacs¹, Aaron L Baggish²

Affiliations

¹ Krannert Institute of Cardiology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN. Electronic address: rikovacs@iu.edu.
² Cardiovascular Performance Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA.

PMID: 25976477
DOI: 10.1016/j.tcm.2015.04.003

Abstract

Millions of athletes train for and participate in competitive athletics each year. Many of these athletes will present to a cardiovascular specialist with signs or symptoms that might indicate heart disease and these athletes/patients will ask for advice on their ability to continue to train and compete safely. By virtue of their training, athletes׳ hearts may undergo significant structural and electrical change, presenting a special challenge for the cardiovascular specialist. It is important to understand normal adaptive changes in order to separate normal physiology from pathology.

Keywords: Athlete; Athlete׳s heart; Cardiomyopathy; Exercise; Hypertrophy; Sports cardiology.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Athletes*
Cardiomegaly, Exercise-Induced / physiology*
Diagnosis, Differential
Heart Diseases* / diagnosis
Heart Diseases* / physiopathology
Humans
Physical Examination / methods
Safety*
Sports*
Symptom Assessment / methods