Research from the University of Leeds, funded by the British Heart Foundation, has shown that men over 50 are at risk of abnormal heart rhythms if they already have scars from a lifetime of intense exercise.
New research from the University of Leeds suggests that veteran male athletes who have trained at high intensity for years may be at greater risk of developing serious heart problems.
A study published today (January 12) and funded by the British Heart Foundation suggests that male athletes over 50 may experience abnormal heart rhythms more often during exercise if they already have scarring in their hearts.
Nine out of 10 sudden cardiac deaths during sports occur in older male athletes.
The researchers’ goal was to determine whether more exercise could cause a potentially fatal abnormal heart rhythm called ventricular tachycardia in this group of athletes.
They found that the athletes who experienced these rhythms did not train at a greater or greater intensity, but three-quarters of them had heart scars.
The team says this suggests that exercise itself is not dangerous, but the findings suggest that the presence of scar tissue in the heart increases the risk of potentially dangerous heart problems during physical activity.
Importantly, the researchers were only aware that these athletes developed heart scars because of their participation in the study, highlighting the importance of regular heart health checks in veteran male endurance athletes to ensure they are not at risk of complications during training.
Scarring can be caused by heart attacks, diseases, and many high-intensity physical exercises over many years.
Lead author Dr Wasim Javed, a research fellow at the University of Leeds School of Medicine and specialist registrar at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Our study shows that exercise is only associated with an increased risk of developing an abnormal heart rhythm in people who are already at high risk because of heart scarring.
“Athletes with an abnormal heart rhythm did not exercise as much or harder than athletes without an abnormal heart rhythm. This suggests that exercise itself is not the cause, but may act as a trigger for dangerous heart rhythms in athletes who already have heart problems.
“The sport is safe and has huge benefits, but athletes in this group should have regular health checks to make sure they are healthy.”
The paper follows the team’s VENTOUX study, published earlier this year, which found that older endurance athletes who spent decades training and competing were more likely to have scarring in their hearts than non-athletes. This scar was closely related to abnormal heart rhythms detected by the participants’ implantable ring recorders, which are small devices placed under the skin.
The new trial aimed to investigate whether and when abnormal heart rhythms were affected by exercise.
The 106 participants were healthy male athletes over the age of 50 who had been running or cycling for more than 10 hours each week for at least the past 15 years.
The researchers tracked the participants’ physical activity using wearable technology such as smart watches and heart rate monitors to record all of their exercise activity. The researchers then compared data from the trackers and implantable ring recorders to accurately match participants’ heart rates to their physical activity.
Over the two years of the study, one in four participants experienced ventricular tachycardia during or shortly after exercise. Most have experienced nonsustained ventricular tachycardia, which is shorter and usually less dangerous, but can be a warning sign of longer, more dangerous events.
However, three out of four of the athletes who had these episodes had heart marks.
There were three longer and potentially more serious episodes of sustained ventricular tachycardia. They occurred during training and were all in athletes with heart scars.
The researchers say their findings support the use of wearable technology for any athlete who wants to monitor their heart rate for extracurricular activities. Anyone who notices an excessively high heart rate when feeling unwell should reduce the intensity or see a doctor.
Dr Javed said: “Three athletes with dangerous heart rhythms suddenly jumped on their heart rate monitors, which confirmed to them that something was wrong. Athletes can pay attention to this during training, as well as any symptoms, and seek help or avoid pushing themselves if this happens.”
The team says theirs is the first study to use long-term wearable technology data with heart rate data. They say future studies of athletes and exercise should include wearable technology because it accurately records activity levels, while simply asking athletes how much exercise they do is likely to yield misleading results. They hope their study can pave the way for further research on different groups, such as women or young athletes.
