[Results of a 2-year study of echocardiographic parameters in juvenile athletes]

The authors investigated, using one- and two-dimensional echocardiography with computer assistance, the influence of systematic sports training on the heart of children engaged in sports (ice hockey, n = 29), as compared with non-training boys of the same age group (n = 25). At the onset of the investigation they did not find any significant differences between the two groups as regards the investigated parameters. After two years training the children engaged in sports had a significantly greater posterior wall thickness of the left ventricle in diastole, as compared with the control group (8.6 +/- 0.8 mm, as compared with 8.1 +/- 0.7 mm, (p less than 0.05) and interventricular septum thickness in diastole (8.6 +/- 0.9 mm, as compared with 8.0 +/- 0.7 mm, p less than 0.05). No significant differences were observed in other dimensional and volume parameters of the left ventricle nor in anthropometric and spirometric parameters.