Left atrial functional response after a marathon in healthy amateur volunteers

Background: Middle-aged marathon runners have an increased risk of developing atrial fibrillation (AF). A previous study described that repetitive marathon running was associated with left atrial (LA) dysfunction. However, whether this change is common in marathon runners and which runners are at risk of LA dysfunction remain unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine which factors could predict LA dysfunction.
Methods and results: We prospectively examined 12 healthy amateur volunteers (9 males, 31±8 years old) who participated in a full marathon. All echocardiographic measurements and speckle-tracking echocardiography were performed before and after the marathon. The endpoint was defined as reduced LA reservoir strain one day after the marathon (non-responder group). Seven participants were in the non-responder group. Age (35±9 vs. 26±2 yrs., p=0.020), augmentation index (76±12 vs. 55±8, p=0.002), and diastolic blood pressures (83±11 vs. 70±7 mmHg, p=0.021) in the non-responder group were significantly higher compared with the responder group. In multivariate linear regression analysis, only the augmentation index was an independent predictor of reduced LA reservoir function after the marathon (β=-0.646, p=0.023).
Conclusion: The augmentation index was a predictive marker for reduction in LA reservoir function after a marathon in healthy amateur volunteers.

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