Resumen de Cardiac structure and function in elite para-cyclists with spinal cord injury
Jonathan H. Kim, Jennifer L. Trilk, Ryan Smith
AB Purpose: We sought to explore the association between the spinal cord injury (SCI) level on the cardiac structure and the function observed in elite para-cyclists. Methods: Cross-sectional echocardiographic data from 44 elite SCI hand cyclists (39.8 +/- 9 yr, 68% male/32% female) stratified by the level of SCI (cervical, N = 9; T1-T5, N = 10; below T5, N = 25) and 19 non-SCI blind/visually impaired (BVI) tandem cyclists (32.4 +/- 7 yr, 58% male/42% female) were analyzed before the initiation of international competition. Results: Compared with non-SCI BVI cyclists, cervical SCI para-cyclists were observed with lower indexed left ventricular (LV) mass (99.6 +/- 12 vs 125 +/- 20 g[middle dot]m-2, P = 0.01), posterior wall thickness (4.5 +/- 0.3 vs 5.8 +/- 0.7 mm[middle dot]m-2, P < 0.001), interventricular septal wall thickness (4.8 +/- 0.5 vs 5.7 +/- 0.7 mm[middle dot]m-2; P = 0.03), and left atrial volume (21 +/- 3.5 vs 28 +/- 7 mL[middle dot]m-2; P = 0.02). In multivariable analyses, cervical SCI was independently associated with decreased LV wall thickness [interventricular septum ([beta] = -0.67, P = 0.01), posterior wall ([beta] = -0.98, P = 0.001)], decreased LV mass ([beta] = -21, P < 0.001), and decreased left atrial volume index ([beta] = -6.9, P = 0.001) compared with other levels of SCI and non-SCI BVI cyclists. There were no differences in ventricular function among any of the athlete groups. Conclusion: Compared with para-cyclists with lower levels of SCI, the athletes with cervical SCI demonstrate attenuated cardiac size and concentric LV hypertrophy. (C) 2016 American College of Sports Medicine
