Study examines heart structure, function of professional basketball players

The incidence of sudden cardiac death is elevated in U.S. basketball players compared with other athletes. Researchers for a new study describe the athletic cardiac remodeling of National Basketball Association athletes.

The echocardiographic observational study was sanctioned by the NBA and conducted at Columbia University Medical Center. Researchers analyzed NBA players on active rosters for the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 seasons. The NBA mandates annual pre-season stress echocardiograms for all players. Echocardiogram data from 526 NBA players were analyzed from January to May 2015.

Three-quarters (77.2%) of players were black and the mean age overall was 25.7 years. The NBA players had a mean height of 200 cm and mean body surface area of 2.38 m².

The researchers found that LV size and mass were proportional to the players’ body size.

Overall, 27.4% of players had LV hypertrophy. Compared with white players, black players had increased LV wall thickness (unadjusted mean, 11.2 mm vs. 105 mm; P < .001) and LV mass (unadjusted mean, 106.3 g/m² vs. 102.2 g/m²; P = .029).

In the entire cohort, the maximal aortic root diameter was 42 mm. “Aortic root diameters reached a plateau at the uppermost biometric variables,” David J. Engel, MD, from the division of cardiology, Columbia University Medical Center, and colleagues wrote.

LV ejection fraction of less than 50% was observed in five players (1%). According to the researchers, all ventricles demonstrated normal augmentation with exercise.

“This study provides normative cardiac data for a group of athletes with greater anthropometry than any previously studied athlete group and for a group known to have elevated rates of sudden cardiac death.

“... A detailed systematic review of cardiac structure and function in this large group of athletes will provide an invaluable frame of reference to enhance player safety for a large group of U.S. basketball players in training at all skill levels and in the athletic community at large. We hope that the present data will help focus decision making and improve clinical acumen for the purpose of primary prevention of cardiac emergencies in U.S. basketball players and in the athletic community,” Engel and colleagues wrote. – by Dave Quaile

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures

Source: www.healio.com