Prognostic Relevance of Ischemic Late Gadolinium Enhancement in Apparently Healthy Endurance Athletes: A Follow-up Study Over 5 years

Lund, Gunnar K.; Leptin, Sharon; Ragab, Haissam; Sinn, Martin R.; Fierenz, Alexander; Cavus, Ersin; Muellerleile, Kai; Chen, Hang; Erley, Jennifer; Harms, Phillip; Kisters, Anna; Starekova, Jitka; Adam, Gerhard; Tahir, Enver

doi:10.1186/s40798-024-00680-1

Sports Medicine - Open

Table 1 Baseline characteristics of athletes with no LGE, minor and major non-ischemic LGE and major ischemic LGE

From: Prognostic Relevance of Ischemic Late Gadolinium Enhancement in Apparently Healthy Endurance Athletes: A Follow-up Study Over 5 years

	No LGE (n = 213)	Minor non-ischemic LGE (n = 57)	Major non-ischemic LGE (n = 16)	Ischemic LGE (n = 7)	p-value Between all groups
Clinical parameters
Age, yrs	44 [35, 49]	42 [34, 47]	50 [45, 55] a	50 [48, 61] b	< 0.005
Weight, kg	75 [65, 81]	75 [65, 81]	75 [65, 81]	86 [74, 88]	0.084
Height, m	1.79 [1.73, 1.85]	1.82 [1.75, 1.85]	1.80 [1.76, 1.81]	1.83 [1.71, 1.86]	0.540
BMI, kg/m²	23.0 [21.2, 24.1]	23.2 [21.8, 24.8]	24.5 [22.6, 25.1]	24.9 [22.6, 27.8]	0.051
BSA, m²	1.94 [1.78–2.04]	1.95 [1.85–2.05]	1.97 [1.87–2.07]	2.06 [1.94, 2.09]	0.190
Hypertension, n (%)	25 (12%)	6 (11%)	5 (31%)	2 (29%)	0.116
Exercise test
Systolic BP at rest, mmHg	121 [114, 131]	125 [119, 130]	126 [115, 141]	133 [124, 141]	0.133
Diastolic BP at rest, mmHg	80 [75, 84]	80 [77, 90]	81 [79, 86]	85 [77, 92]	0.248
Peak systolic BP, mmHg	191 [171, 212]	201 [179, 213]	230 [190, 237]	230 [216, 240] c	< 0.005
Peak diastolic BP, mmHg	90 [80, 100]	90 [80, 98]	80 [79, 89]	80 [69, 102]	0.204
Exercise-induced hypertension, n (%)	47 (22%)	15 (26%)	8 (50%) d	5 (71%) c	< 0.01
Heart rate at rest, bpm	58 [51, 65]	62 [51, 75]	56 [49, 62]	61 [55, 79]	0.196
Peak heart rate, bpm	172 [162, 180]	179 [166, 185]	162 [157, 176] a	170 [151, 175]	< 0.01
ΔHR rest/peak, bpm	113 [104, 120]	114 [105, 124]	109 [95, 121]	97 [92, 104]	0.065
VO_2max, ml/kg per min	50 [44, 58]	52 [44, 61]	55 [48, 58]	54 [46, 61]	0.545
Maximal power, W	351 [292, 427]	395 [326, 464]	387 [323, 424]	344 [275, 375]	0.096
CMR parameters
LVEF, %	63 [59, 67]	62 [58, 65]	64 [60, 69]	61 [59, 67]	0.291
LV mass index, g/m²	74 [64, 84]	75 [65, 81]	90 [84, 93] a, d	87 [81, 97] b, c	< 0.001
LVEDVi, ml/m²	97 [86, 107]	96 [88, 110]	105 [99, 118]	92 [90, 97]	0.051
LVESVi, ml/m²	36 [29, 42]	37 [32, 43]	38 [33, 46]	38 [30, 40]	0.490
LGE size, %LV	–	1.1 [0.8, 1.5]	2.0 [0.9, 4.0] a	5.1 [3.0, 7.9] b	< 0.001
LGE mass index, g/m²	–	0.7 [0.5, 1.0]	1.4 [0.6, 2.3] a	2.4 [1.2, 3.4] b	< 0.001

Values are median (first [Q1] and third [Q3] quartiles) for continuous data or n (%) for categorical data
BMI Body mass index, BSA Body surface area, BP Blood pressure, HR Heart rate, VO_2max Maximal oxygen uptake, LVEF Ejection fraction, LV Mass index left ventricular mass index, LVEDVi Left ventricular end-diastolic volume index, LVESVi Left ventricular end-systolic volume index, LGE Late gadolinium enhancement
^ap < 0.05 for athletes with major non-ischemic LGE compared to athletes with minor non-ischemic LGE
^bp < 0.05 for athletes with ischemic LGE compared to athletes with minor non-ischemic LGE
^cp < 0.05 for athletes with ischemic LGE compared to athletes with no LGE
^dp < 0.05 for athletes with major non-ischemic LGE compared to athletes with no LGE

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