Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Apr 6:11:1162594.
doi: 10.3389/fped.2023.1162594. eCollection 2023.

Influence of training status on cardiac and vascular functioning in young recreational and competitive male rowers

Lavinia Falcioni  1 , Maria Chiara Gallotta  2 , Carlo Baldari  3 , Ludovica Cardinali  1 , Matteo Campanella  3 , Dafne Ferrari  3   4 , Laura Guidetti  4 , Marco Meucci  5
Affiliations

Influence of training status on cardiac and vascular functioning in young recreational and competitive male rowers

Lavinia Falcioni et al. Front Pediatr. .

Abstract

Introduction: The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of training status on cardiovascular function in young male recreational and competitive rowers.

Methods: Ejection duration in percentage to the heart rate period (ED%), subendocardial viability ratio (SEVR), augmentation index at 75 bpm (AIx75) and carotid to femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV) of competitive rowers (CR) (age 17.6 ± 4.1 years), recreational rowers (RR) (age 16.7 ± 2.70 years) and athletes practicing other recreational sports (ORS) (age 15.3 ± 1.4 years) were assessed.

Results: ED% was lower in CR compared to ORS (31.9 ± 3.9% vs. 38.4 ± 4.8%; p = 0.026) and cf-PWV was higher in CR compared to ORS (5.5 ± 1.0 m/s vs. 4.7 ± 0.5 m/s; p = 0.032). SEVR was higher in CR compared to RR and ORS (165.8 ± 33.7% vs. 127.4 ± 30.4% and 128.3 ± 27.8%; p = 0.022) and AIx75 was lower in CR compared to RR and ORS (-15.7 ± 8.6% vs. 1.2 ± 9.9% and 1.5 ± 9.1; p = 0.001).

Discussion: Healthy, young competitive male rowers reported higher myocardial performance and better cardiovascular health than recreational athletes. Interpretations of cf-PWV in competitive rowers should be performed alongside other cardiovascular indicators.

Keywords: cardiovascular health; non-invasive measurements; rower athletes; rowing training; young athletes.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Percentage of ejection duration in ORS, RR and CR groups. *p < 0.05 vs. CR. CR, competitive rowers; ED, ejection duration; ORS, other recreational sports; RR, recreational rowers.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Subendocardial viability ratio values in ORS, RR and CR groups. *p ≤ 0.05 vs. CR. CR, competitive rowers; ORS, other recreational sports; RR, recreational rowers; SEVR, subendocardial viability ratio.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Pulse wave velocity in ORS, RR and CR groups. *p = 0.05 vs. CR. CR, competitive rowers; ORS, other recreational sports; RR, recreational rowers; PWV, pulse wave velocity.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Augmentation index corrected to a heart rate of 75 bpm in ORS, RR and CR groups. ***p < 0.001 vs. CR. **p < 0.01 vs. CR. AIx, Augmentation index; CR, competitive rowers; ORS, other recreational sports; RR, recreational rowers.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Secher NH. Physiological and biomechanical aspects of rowing: implications for training. Sports Med. (1993) 15(1):24–42. 10.2165/00007256-199315010-00004 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hagerman FC, Hagerman GR, Mickelson TC. Physiological profiles of elite rowers. Phys Sportsmed. (1979) 7(7):74–83. 10.1080/00913847.1979.11948457 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Spirito P, Pelliccia A, Proschan MA, Granata M, Spataro A, Bellone P, et al. Morphology of the “athlete's Heart” assessed by echocardiography in 947 elite athletes representing 27 sports. Am J Cardiol. (1994) 74(8):802–6. 10.1016/0002-9149(94)90439-1 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sharma S, Maron BJ, Whyte G, Firoozi S, Elliott PM, McKenna WJ. Physiologic limits of left ventricular hypertrophy in elite junior athletes. J Am Coll Cardiol. (2002) 40(8):1431–6. 10.1016/S0735-1097(02)02270-2 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kowalik T, Klawe JJ, Tafil-Klawe M, Słomko W, Słomko J, Srokowska A, et al. Multiannual, intensive strength-endurance training modulates the activity of the cardiovascular and autonomic nervous system among rowers of the international level. BioMed Res Int. (2019) 2019:1–6. 10.1155/2019/3989304 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources