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Intensive train and sport modifications the guts of an athlete. Analysis led by Amsterdam UMC reveals that the hearts of feminine athletes have totally different traits than these of male athletes.
Whereas a thickening together with a dilation of the guts muscle is attribute in male prime athletes, dilation of the guts chambers is principally seen in feminine elite athletes. An necessary commentary that may assist docs to raised distinguish between regular sports-related modifications and doable coronary heart illness in feminine athletes.
These outcomes are revealed within the European Coronary heart Journal—Cardiovascular Imaging.
Distinction between women and men
Regardless of the rising consideration for organic variations between women and men in well being care, girls are nonetheless typically underexposed in medical analysis.
Harald Jorstad, sports activities heart specialist at Amsterdam UMC, mentioned, “Women are still underrepresented in heart research, especially when it comes to sports cardiology research. But through our collaboration with the Dutch Olympic team, we have now also been able to gain knowledge from female elite athletes about adaptations in the morphology of the heart.”
Understanding what’s regular
With an MRI scan, the hearts of 173 feminine elite athletes had been analyzed all the way down to the tissue degree. Their hearts had been in comparison with knowledge from girls who don’t take part in skilled sport.
“We saw that in women who participate in professional sports, the heart chambers in particular become wider, while the heart muscle thickens only to a limited extent, and the heart tissue otherwise contains normal characteristics. This is different from a male athlete’s heart: the heart muscle is frequently thicker than the heart muscle of a ‘normal’ heart. A characteristic that you also see in heart disease,” says Jorstad.
A thickened coronary heart muscle is subsequently to be anticipated in male elite athletes, whereas it’s not regular in feminine elite athletes, and in females might point out coronary heart illness.
“That is why it is important that we know from both men and women how the heart adapts through sport, and we know what is normal in an athlete,” says Jorstad.
Variations in kind of sport
Not solely are there variations between women and men in how the guts adapts, however there’s additionally a distinction between various kinds of athletes.
Maarten van Diepen, physician-researcher in sports activities cardiology at Amsterdam UMC, mentioned, “Female endurance athletes, such as cyclists, had the largest heart chambers and the most heart muscle mass; more than strength athletes such as gymnasts. This shows that the way in which the heart of an elite female athlete adapts also depends on the type of training load.”
Higher steering and safety of athletes
This analysis underlines the significance of together with not solely sports activities historical past but additionally organic intercourse when assessing the guts of an elite or extremely energetic leisure athlete.
“This prevents heart disease in women from being overlooked. Or the other way around, that a healthy female athlete’s heart is wrongly labeled as sick and the woman, for example, must stop with professional sport,” says Jorstad.
“More knowledge about the female athlete’s heart helps doctors to better determine whether a heart is undergoing normal sports-related changes or whether further research into a possible heart disease is needed. This can ultimately help to better guide and protect female athletes, from professional to recreational, against heart problems.”
Extra info:
Intercourse-specific efficiency of electrocardiographic standards for left ventricular hypertrophy in elite athletes, European Coronary heart Journal—Cardiovascular Imaging (2025).
Supplied by
Amsterdam College Medical Facilities
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The hearts of feminine elite athletes adapt in another way than these of male elite athletes, analysis reveals (2025, June 2)
retrieved 2 June 2025
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