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Coronary heart disease risk factors in middle‐aged former top‐level athletes
Author(s) -
Pihl E.,
Jürimäe T.,
Kaasik T.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of medicine and science in sports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.575
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1600-0838
pISSN - 0905-7188
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0838.1998.tb00197.x
Subject(s) - medicine , athletes , coronary heart disease , cardiology , physical therapy , risk factor
A cross‐sectional study was conducted to determine the impact of previous athleticism on coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factors in 168 middle‐aged men and 147 middle‐aged women in Estonia. Participants were divided into four groups: physically active ex‐athletes (AA), sedentary ex‐athletes (SA), recreational exercisers (RE), and non‐exercisers (NE). The Sharkey's questionnaire was applied to determine the CHD risk factors, health habits, medical, safety, personal, psychological and women's risk factors scores. Anthropometric characteristics, resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure values (SBP, DBP), and physical working capacity (PWC 170 ) were measured. Concentrations of total cholesterol (CHOL), high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL‐C), triacylglycerols (TG), and glucose were determined. Low‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL‐C) and HDL‐C/CHOL ratio were computed. From the questionnaire results, significant differences in CHD risk scores in both sex groups in favour of AA and RE were found. DBP in men was significantly higher in SA, and SBP in women was significantly higher in NE in comparison with other groups. PWC 170 and PWC 170 /kg was highest in AA and lowest in NE in both sex groups. There were no significant differences for blood biochemical parameters between women's groups. In men, AA had a lower CHOL level in comparison with SA and NE, and lower concentrations of TG and LDL‐C than other groups. AA and RE had a higher HDL‐C concentration and HDL‐C/CHOL ratio in comparison with the other groups. In conclusion, differences in CHD risk factors were related to current physical activity, and were more expressed in men than in women.