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

ABSTRACT

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.