Lifetime endurance excercise to prevent coronary artery disease. A comparison with late-onset endurance training and a sedentary lifestyle.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Europe and is strongly related to a sedentary lifestyle. In parallel with a modern inactivity pandemic, the past 2 decades have witnessed an increase in the number of middle-aged and older individuals engaging incompetitive endurance sports events. This increasing popularity of endurance sports implies that a greater proportion of individuals participating in high-intensity sport has a higher cardiovascular risk profile. Coronary artery disease is by far the most common cause of sudden cardiac death in senior athletes. Cases of sudden cardiac death are often widely publicized in the media, and are accompanied by questions on its relation with the sports activity and how it could have been prevented. Retrospective observations provide some reassurance, but have been difficult to interpret given major differences between athletic and referent populations in cardiovascular risk factors such as smoking and socio-economic status. Concerns regarding a potential 'overdose' of exercise are further nourished by data in the literature that have linked long-term endurance exercise with an excess of arrhythmias. The aim of this project is to discern both preventive and adverse effects of long-term endurance exercise. By comparing a group of lifelong endurance athletes, engaged in endurance sports since the age of 25 years, a group of late-onset older endurance athletes, performing endurance exercise since only 6 to 36 months, and a sedentary cohort we will specifically assess the benefits and risks related to the age of onset of endurance exercise. As primary endpoint we will assess the prevalence of coronary atherosclerosis using coronary artery calcium scoring. We will evaluate if a possible beneficial effect of lifelong endurance exercise on coronary artery disease is associated with an increased risk of adverse effects, such as an increased incidence of atrial fibrillation or significant myocardial fibrosis.

Keywords:CORONARY DISEASE, SPORTS, SUDDEN DEATH

Disciplines:Cardiac and vascular medicine

Project type:Collaboration project