Influence of a half-marathon run on NT-proBNP and troponin T

A caveat to strenuous and medium term physical exercise is the potential cardiovascular damage it may cause. In particular, there is still controversy regarding the behaviour of biochemical markers of heart damage and dysfunction following medium term endurance training.

Troponin T (TnT) and the N-terminal proB-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) were assessed before a 21-km half-marathon, at the end, and 3, 6, 24 h thereafter on 17 trained, middle-aged males. Results were corrected for plasma volume changes.

All athletes finished the half-marathon run successfully and without any symptoms. Most of them were able to fulfill their personal expectations. The % PVC increased significantly immediately after the run, returned to values not significantly different from the baseline at 3 and 6 h, and showed a significant decrease of 4.4% on the following day. None of the cases showed an increase in the concentration of TnT the > 0.03 ng/ml threshold. Although the level of NT-proBNP increased significantly at the end of the run and remained statistically higher than the pre-half marathon value for the following 24 h, no athlete displayed values exceeding the cut-off concentration of 125 pg/mL. At any time point the delta increments of NT-proBNP from the pre-run values did not significantly correlate with the corresponding % PVC.

Taken together, our results in healthy, middle-aged, trained individuals are consistent with the hypothesis that medium term aerobic exercise significantly influences NT-proBNP values for up to 24 h though no biochemical signs of myocardial necrosis can be detected.