Peer-reviewed journal article - Essay Example

In this study, the authors predict that exercise-induced arterial hypertension might portend negative influences on the athlete’s cardiac function, while it might also play a significant role in the exercise induced cardiac fatigue. There is a significant association between endurance sport and cardiac injury, where long-term training could result in myocardial fibrosis, arterial fibrillation, arrhythmias, and sudden cardiac arrest (Leischik et al., 2014). The authors selected a sample of (n=51) male triathletes who had either completed the long distance Ironman triathlon (n=34) or the middle distance Ironman triathlon (n=17).

The participants were also selected on the basis of having completed two years of training. The study used spiroergometry and echocardiography in determining the steady state blood pressure, anaerobic/aerobic thresholds, and the left ventricular mass of the selected participants (Leischik et al., 2014). The probability of hypertrophy and elevated blood pressure among the participants were calculated using odds ration analysis. Each triathlete was assessed in 2011 and 2012 using echocardiography and spiroergometry in succession.

The spiroergometry involved a phased stress test after successful volume and gas calibration between the phases. The echocardiographic analysis was conducted using the American Society of Echocardiography recommendations for muscle mass and the modified Simpson method for ESV and EDV (Leischik et al., 2014). The authors actually found that myocardial hypertrophy is dependent on exercise-induced arterial hypertension, confirming that there was a hypertensive response in athletes as a result of exercise.

The athletes with exercise-induced arterial hypertension also showed increased left ventricular mass at 205g/m2, especially in comparison to athletes without exaggerated response in BP to exercise who had a left ventricular mass of 143g/m2 (Leischik et al, 2014). In addition, the findings also show that systolic