Ventricular mass in relation to body size, composition, and skeletal age in adolescent athletes.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the contribution of chronological age (CA), skeletal age (SA), stature, sitting stature, fat-free mass (FFM), and fat mass (FM) to interindividual variability in left ventricular mass (LVM) in male adolescent roller hockey players using allometric models. DESIGN: Cross sectional. SETTING: Training and competitive sport during adolescence. PARTICIPANTS: Seventy-three Portuguese male roller hockey players aged 14.5 to 16.5 years. INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: Stature, sitting stature, body mass, estimated FM and FFM, and SA assessed by the Fels method. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Allometric modeling of LVM assessed in accordance with recommendations of the American Society of Echocardiography. RESULTS: Hockey players (CA: 15.4 ± 0.6 years; SA: 16.4 ± 1.5 years) showed an eccentric remodeling of LV structure within the reference range (ie, 0.24-0.42), a dilated LV chamber, but no LVM increase. Exponents for body size descriptors were 2.69 for stature (R(2) = 27%; P < 0.001), 2.49 for sitting stature (R(2) = 37%; P < 0.001), 0.76 for FFM (R(2) = 31%; P < 0.001), and 0.22 for FM (R(2) = 26%; P < 0.001). The combination of size descriptors with CA and SA increased the explained variance in LVM slightly (26%-45%). CONCLUSIONS: When stature and FM are used for indexing LVM in a sample of adolescent athletes, biological maturity status should also be considered.