ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Left ventricular chamber size predicts the race time of Japanese participants in a 100 km ultramarathon

J Nagashima¹, H Musha², H Takada¹, M Murayama¹

¹ Yokohama Sports Medical Center, Yokohama-city, Japan
² St Marianna University, Yokohama-city Seibu Hospital, Yokohama-city

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr Nagashima
Yokohama Sports Medical Center, Internal Medicine Section, Yokohama-city, Japan; junagashima-circ{at}umin.ac.jp

Objective: As a subanalysis of an echocardiographic study performed on 291 Japanese participants in a 100 km ultramarathon, to estimate predictors of race time.

Methods: A total of 247 male participants in a 100 km ultramarathon (age 20–73 years) were examined by echocardiography. Correlations between age, body surface area, monthly running distance, or echocardiographic variables and the race time were examined.

Results: According to simple regression analysis, age (r = 0.299, p<0.0001), monthly running distance (r = –0.388, p<0.0001), left ventricular end diastolic diameter (r = –0.300, p<0.0001), and left ventricular end systolic diameter (r = –0.325, p<0.0001) correlated significantly with the race time. When multiple regression analysis was performed, age (f = 2.364), monthly running distance (f = –0.113), and left ventricular end systolic diameter (f = –2.361) remained significant predictors of the race time.

Conclusion: Left ventricular diameter predicts the race time for a 100 km ultramarathon, in addition to age and amount of training.

Keywords: heart; diameter; marathon; echocardiography; performance

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Commentary

T Venckunas³

³ Sporto 6, Department of Applied Physiology and Health Education, Kaunas, Lithuania; t.venckunas{at}lkka.lt

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