ReviewJournal of cardiovascular development and disease2022
May Strenuous Endurance Sports Activity Damage the Cardiovascular System of Healthy Athletes? A Narrative Review.
Review in Journal of cardiovascular development and disease, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Performance, physiology, and determinants of success in IRONMAN® 70.3: A systematic review.PloS one · 2026Pooled it
- Effects of a Single Session of Active Release Technique on Gastrocnemius Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness in Male Amateur Football Athletes: A Randomized Split-Body Pilot Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Cardiovascular Implications of the Enhanced Games: Performance Enhancing Drugs in Competition and Recreation.Sports medicine - open · 2026Review
- Exercise Stress Testing in Clinical Cardiology: A Practical Guide to Performance and Interpretation.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- RETRACTION: Vigorous Physical Activity and Atrial Fibrillation in Healthy Individuals: What Is the Correct Approach?Clinical cardiology · 2025Article
- Does Long-Term Sport Practice Facilitate the Development of Idiopathic Bradycardia Requiring Early Pacemaker Implantation During the Course of Life?Journal of cardiovascular development and disease · 2025Article
- Observational
- The Role of Nuclear Medicine in the Diagnostic Work-Up of Athletes: An Essential Guide for the Sports Cardiologist.Journal of cardiovascular development and disease · 2024Review
- The Spectrum of Coronary Artery Disease in Elite Endurance Athletes-A Long-Standing Debate: State-of-the-Art Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Myocardial Fibrosis in Young and Veteran Athletes: Evidence from a Systematic Review of the Current Literature.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Intrinsic Sinus Node/Atrioventricular Node Dysfunction Requiring Pacemaker Implantation: Role of Former Professional Sport Activity.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Exercise-Induced Arrhythmia or Munchausen Syndrome in a Marathon Runner?Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Evolving spectrum of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy: Implications for Sports Cardiology.Clinical cardiology · 2023Review
- Ventricular arrhythmias recorded on 12-lead ambulatory electrocardiogram monitoring in healthy volunteer athletes and controls: what is common and what is not.Europace : European pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac electrophysiology : journal of the working groups on cardiac pacing, arrhythmias, and cardiac cellular electrophysiology of the European Society of Cardiology · 2023Article
- Atrial Fibrillation in Endurance Training Athletes: Scoping Review.Reviews in cardiovascular medicine · 2023Article
- Electro-Mechanical Alterations in Atrial Fibrillation: Structural, Electrical, and Functional Correlates.Journal of cardiovascular development and disease · 2023Review
- New Perspectives on Risk Stratification and Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation: An Analysis of Recent Contributions on theJournal of cardiovascular development and disease · 2023Article
- Aged gastrocnemius muscle of mice positively responds to a late onset adapted physical training.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2023Article
- High-Sensitivity Cardiac Troponin Publications during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020-2022).Journal of cardiovascular development and disease · 2022Article
- From sedentary individuals to highly trained athletes: A comprehensive cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging study of cardiac volumetry, function, and strain.Journal of cardiovascular magnetic resonance : official journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic ResonanceArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The positive effects of physical activity are countless, not only on the cardiovascular system but on health in general. However, some studies suggest a U-shape relationship between exercise volume and effects on the cardiovascular system. On the basis of this perspective, moderate-dose exercise would be beneficial compared to a sedentary lifestyle, while very high-dose physical activity would paradoxically be detrimental. We reviewed the available evidence on the potential adverse effects of very intense, prolonged exercise on the cardiovascular system, both acute and chronic, in healthy athletes without pre-existing cardiovascular conditions. We found that endurance sports activities may cause reversible electrocardiographic changes, ventricular dysfunction, and troponin elevation with complete recovery within a few days. The theory that repeated bouts of acute stress on the heart may lead to chronic myocardial damage remains to be demonstrated. However, male veteran athletes with a long sports career show an increased prevalence of cardiovascular abnormalities such as electrical conduction delay, atrial fibrillation, myocardial fibrosis, and coronary calcifications compared to non-athletes. It must be underlined that the cause-effect relationship between such abnormalities and the exercise and, most importantly, the prognostic relevance of such findings remains to be established.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.