PRESS RELEASE

May 3, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 
ENDURANCE TRAINING IN POST-MENOPAUSAL WOMEN PRODUCES SPECIFIC CARDIAC CHANGE
 
Although exercise-related cardiac adaptations in males have been well-described, there has been little research looking at the effects of long-term endurance training on cardiac function in postmenopausal women.  At the annual meeting of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine in Vancouver, British Columbia, Magnus Hagmar, M.D. presented new research looking at this issue.  Using echocardiography and symptom-limited exercise stress testing, twenty postmenopausal elite endurance athletes were compared to nineteen age-matched inactive controls.  In this comparison, athletic females were able to exercise longer and to a higher workload than their untrained counterparts.  Echocardiography showed larger cardiac volumes and stroke volume (volume of blood the heart pumps with each stroke) in the athletic group.  Unlike similar studies in males, there was no difference in left ventricular volume or mass between groups.
 
Dr. Hagmar concludes that this study is significant in that it shows that while trained females definitely have increased exercise capacity in relation to untrained peers, there are fewer differences of structural cardiac adaptations.  Increased exercise capacity seems to come, in part, from increases in cardiac output related to increased stroke volume.  Dr. Hagmar is affiliated with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm, Sweeden, and is a member of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine.
 
The American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (AMSSM) was organized in 1991by physicians who recognized the need for an organization within the field of sports medicine that approached athletes, exercising individuals, and teams comprehensively with consultative and continuous care of their orthopedic, medical, nutritional, and psychosocial issues.  Although sports medicine concepts are often thought of in conjunction with professional and elite athletes, these concepts apply to athletes of all levels including grade school, high school, college and recreational athletes.  AMSSM is comprised of over 800 Sports Medicine Physicians whose goal is to provide a link between the rapidly expanding core of knowledge related to sports medicine and its application to patients in a clinical setting.
 
NOTE: For more information, please contact the AMSSM, 11639 Earnshaw, Overland Park, KS 66210, (913) 327-1415 or office@amssm.org .