Cardiopulmonary and Cardiovascular Physiology in Elderly Competitive Endurance Athletes

Thirteen elderly male high intensity endurance athletes and 12 healthy age matched nonathletes were evaluated to determine differences in their cardiovascular physiology. Contrary to several pervious reports, this study did not demonstrate superiority of left ventricular (LV) systolic or diastolic function in athletes compared with controls, either at rest or immediately following exercise. Fasting serum lipids failed to demonstrate a favorable cholesterol profile in the athletes compared to inactive controls. Our results point to superior oxygen utilization (mean peak Vo2 44 vs. 27 mL/kg/min; athletes vs. controls) and the capacity to exercise both aerobically (mean duration 24 vs. 12 min; athletes vs. controls) and anaerobically (mean duration 10 vs. 4 min; athletes vs. controls) as distinguishing parameters between the two cohorts. Our study suggests that in senior athletes, enhanced LV diastolic function may not be as great a contributing factor to athletic performance as previously reported. (c)1999 by CVRR, Inc.