CARDI-ACHE · The cardiovascular consequences of endurance exercise
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2015-06-01 → 2017-12-01
- EU contribution
- €183,455
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
The cardiovascular consequences of endurance exercise
Regular exercise training is known to improve cardiovascular health and longevity. For this purpose, the World Health Organization recommends adults to perform 150 minute per week of moderate intensity physical activity. Recent studies, however, report that acute and/or lifelong high volumes of vigorous intensity endurance exercise can lead to cardiac mal-adaptations such as increased concentrations of biomarkers that reflect cardiomyocyte damage and presence of scar tissue in the heart of presumably healthy athletes. CARDI-ACHE aimed to elucidate the clinical relevance of these observations. More specifically, we assessed (1) the prognostic value of exercise-induced cardiac biomarker release, (2) the functional consequences of myocardial scarring was assessed in an athletic population, and (3) the potential association between cardiomyocyte damage and markers of cardiac scar tissue. These studies are important as the uptake of endurance exercisers is rapidly increasing across Europe and the world and this is set against a backdrop where the popular media frequently cover the potential harmful effects of endurance exercise in a largely unbalanced fashion. These alternative facts may stimulate the general population to continue their unhealthy and sedentary lifestyle and prevent exercise adoption of any sort. Consequently our research seeks to provide important new novel information that has a broad-based impact on individuals undertaking endurance exercise through to public health policy makers. CARDI-ACHE revealed that exercise-induced increases in cardiac biomarkers are highly variable across individuals, and partially depend on exercise intensity and health status. Adverse event rate was yet too low to perform statistical analyses, but will be repeated in the near future. Presence of myocardial scarring did not affect global cardiac function, although regional dysfunction was observed in co-localized scar tissue. Finally, biomarkers of myocardial scarring significantly increased following exercise, though no association was found with markers for cardiomyocyte damage. Taken together, the cardiac ‘maladaptations’ that are typically observed in lifelong athletes presumably have only minor clinical significance. These findings align with previous studies that report a superior life expectancy in athletes compared to the general population and support the concept that Exercise is Medicine.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Problem: Exercise training represents an attractive and low-cost strategy to improve cardiovascular health. Recent studies, however, report novel evidence that endurance exercise can lead to potentially detrimental cardiac maladaptations. First, acute exercise-induced elevations in cardiac troponin (cTn) levels have been found, which typically reflect myocardial (micro-)damage and are predictive of future cardiovascular events and mortality. Secondly, myocardial fibrosis has been reported in 12–50% of individuals engaged in lifelong exercise training, reflecting scarring of cardiac tissue that is typically found in patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVD). These cardiac maladaptations are highly unexpected and largely unexplained in apparently healthy individuals.CARDI-ACHE: Based on the latest scientific insights, the overall aim of this proposal is to elucidate the clinical importance of exercise-induced cTn elevations and myocardial fibrosis in endurance athletes. Better understanding of the clinical relevance of these adaptations is important to differentiate between the beneficial and the potentially harmful effects of exercise. Accordingly, I will study the following scientifically and clinically relevant questions: I. What is the prognostic value of exercise-induced cTn elevations?II. What are the functional consequences of myocardial fibrosis and are these mediated by lifelong physical activity?III. Do exercise-induced cTn elevations contribute to the development of myocardial fibrosis?Relevance for science & candidate. With this project, I will use the most technologically advanced approaches and tools to understand the clinical relevance of potential cardiac maladaptations to exercise training. The studies are performed in a world-renowned research group which allows me to expand my expertise in exercise cardiology using state-of-the-art facilities.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- LIVERPOOL JOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY · LIVERPOOLCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union