Echocardiographic (echo) and blood pressure (BP) reference values may help identify
athletes at cardiovascular risk, yet benchmarks are inadequate for collegiate American-style
football (ASF) players. Our purpose was to describe echo characteristics and BP values
in collegiate ASF athletes compared with normal. First-year players (n = 80, age =
18 ± 1 years, height = 186 ± 7 cm, weight = 100.1 ± 22.0 kg, body mass index = 28.7
± 5.0), body surface area [BSA] = 2.24 ± 0.25; percentage fat = 16.5 ± 9.7%) were
measured for systolic and diastolic BP, and underwent echo procedures by a certified
sonographer. Data analyses included simple statistics, Pearson r, frequencies in normal ranges, and t test; α = 0.05. Selected echo measurements (and indexed by BSA) were: left ventricular
(LV) internal diameter diastole = 5.3 ± 0.5 cm (2.4 ± 0.3); left atrial diameter =
3.9 ± 0.5 cm (1.8 ± 0.2): LV end-diastolic volume = 138 ± 30 ml (62 ± 11); septal
wall thickness = 1.0 ± 0.2 cm (0.5 ± 0.1); LV posterior wall thickness = 1.0 ± 0.1 cm
(0.5 ± 0.1), LV mass = 212 ± 46 g (95 ± 18); and relative wall thickness = 0.39 ±
0.07. Correlations between BSA and echo variables were significant (r = 0.26 to 0.50). Indexing by BSA reduced percentages above reference ranges from
36% to 7%. Septal wall thickness index was significantly greater in black (0.5 ± 0.1)
than nonblack (0.4 ± 0.1) athletes. Fifty-nine athletes were hypertensive or prehypertensive,
and diastolic BP was significantly greater in black (76 ± 10 mm Hg) compared with
nonblack athletes (71 ± 8 mm Hg). ASF athletes demonstrated LV wall thicknesses and
cavity sizes consistent with sport-training hypertrophy but which were unremarkable
when indexed by BSA. Ethnicity generally did not influence echo variables. No ASF
players were identified with cardiac dysfunction or disease.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 18, 2015
Accepted:
September 25,
2015
Received in revised form:
September 25,
2015
Received:
August 1,
2015
Footnotes
See page 134 for disclosure information.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
