Stroke Work Damping Ratio is Increased in Trained Athletes

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Physiology
• Sports Medicine
• Biomechanical Engineering

Background:

• Athletic training induces cardiac morphological changes, impacting overall heart function.
• The pressure-volume (PV) relation is crucial for characterizing cardiac pump performance.
• Arterial system (AS) viscosity contributes to energy dissipation during mechanical transduction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate left ventricular PV-loops in relation to AS viscous properties.
• To assess the Stroke Work Damping Ratio (SWDR) in both trained and untrained individuals.
• To understand the interaction of SWDR components in characterizing cardiac performance.

Main Methods:

• Noninvasive evaluation of 14 healthy individuals (seven trained).
• Utilized echocardiography and aortic pressure measurements.
• Calculated SWDR based on left ventricular PV-loops and stroke work components.

Main Results:

• SWDR was significantly increased in trained subjects compared to the untrained group.
• The increase in SWDR in trained individuals suggests altered arterial mechanical properties.
• Stroke Work Damping (SWD) showed a significant increase, contributing to higher SWDR.

Conclusions:

• SWDR is a valuable metric for assessing cardiac adaptation to training.
• Increased SWDR in athletes may be linked to the viscous mechanical properties of the arterial system.
• This study provides insights into the biomechanical adaptations of the cardiovascular system in response to exercise training.