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Cardiovascular function and the veteran athlete

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European Journal of Applied Physiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The cardiovascular benefits of exercise are well known. In contrast, the impact of lifelong endurance exercise is less well understood. Long-term high-intensity endurance exercise is associated with changes in cardiac morphology together with electrocardiographic alterations that are believed to be physiologic in nature. Recent data however has suggested a number of deleterious adaptive changes in cardiac structure, function and electrical activity, together with peripheral and cerebral vascular structure and function. This review serves to detail knowledge in relation to; (1) Cardiac structure and function in veteran endurance athletes focusing on the differentiation of physiological and pathological changes in cardiac remodelling; (2) Cardiac electrical activity and the veteran endurance athlete with attention to arrhythmias, the substrate for arrhythmia generation and the clinical significance of such arrhythmias; (3) Peripheral and cerebral vascular structure and function in ageing and endurance-trained individuals; and (4) directions for future research.

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Acknowledgments

DG received funding support from the National Heart Foundation of Australia. GW has received funding from Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY, UK) and KG and GW have received technical and equipment support from General Electric (UK, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand). PA and CM received funding from Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC).

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Wilson, M., O’Hanlon, R., Basavarajaiah, S. et al. Cardiovascular function and the veteran athlete. Eur J Appl Physiol 110, 459–478 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-010-1534-3

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