Blood Pressure and Left Ventricular Hypertrophy During American-Style Football Participation

• Published in: Circulation (New York, N.Y.) N.Y.), 2013-07, Vol.128 (5), p.524-531
• Main Authors: Weiner, Rory B, Wang, Francis, Isaacs, Stephanie K, Malhotra, Rajeev, Berkstresser, Brant, Kim, Jonathan H, Hutter, Adolph M, Picard, Michael H, Wang, Thomas J, Baggish, Aaron L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Arterial hypertension. Arterial hypotension; Athletes; Biological and medical sciences; Blood and lymphatic vessels; Blood Pressure - physiology; Blood Pressure Determination - methods; Cardiology. Vascular system; Diseases of the peripheral vessels. Diseases of the vena cava. Miscellaneous; Football - physiology; Humans; Hypertension - diagnosis; Hypertension - epidemiology; Hypertension - physiopathology; Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular - diagnosis; Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular - epidemiology; Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular - physiopathology; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medical sciences; Physical Endurance - physiology; Prospective Studies; Students; United States - epidemiology; Universities; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0009-7322; 1524-4539
• DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.003522

BACKGROUND—Hypertension, a strong determinant of cardiovascular disease risk, has been documented among elite, professional American-style football (ASF) players. The risk of increased blood pressure (BP) and early adulthood hypertension among the substantially larger population of collegiate ASF athletes is not known. METHODS AND RESULTS—We conducted a prospective, longitudinal study to examine BP, the incidence of hypertension, and left ventricular remodeling among collegiate ASF athletes. Resting BP and left ventricular structure were assessed before and after a single season of competitive ASF participation in 6 consecutive groups of first-year university athletes (n=113). ASF participation was associated with significant increases in systolic BP (116±8 versus 125±13 mm Hg; P