Structural and functional cardiac adaptations to a 10-week school-based football intervention for 9-10-year-old children

• Published in: Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports Vol. 24; no. Suppl. S1; pp. 4 - 9
• Main Authors: Krustrup, P, Hansen, P.R, Nielsen, C.M, Larsen, M.N, Randers, M.B, Manniche, V, Hansen, L, Dvorak, J, Bangsbo, J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Denmark Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.08.2014
• Subjects: Adaptation, Physiological; Anpassung; Blood Pressure; cardiac dimensions; Cardiovascular system; Child; Children & youth; diastolic function; Echocardiography; Empirische Untersuchung; Female; Fußball; Heart Rate; Heart Ventricles - anatomy & histology; Heart Ventricles - diagnostic imaging; Herz; Herz-Kreislauf-System; Humans; Intention to Treat Analysis; Intervention; Kind; Kleinfeldspiel; Male; Schule; Soccer; Soccer - physiology; Sportmedizin; Sports medicine; Stroke Volume - physiology; systolic function; Training; Trainingsprogramm; Ventricular Function - physiology; Wirkung; cardiac dimensions; soccer; systolic function; heart rate; Echocardiography; diastolic function
• ISSN: 1600-0838; 0905-7188; 1600-0838
• DOI: 10.1111/sms.12277

The present study investigated the cardiac effects of a 10-week football training intervention for school children aged 9-10 years using comprehensive transthoracic echocardiography as a part of a larger ongoing study. A total of 97 pupils from four school classes were cluster-randomized into a control group that maintained their usual activities (CON; two classes, n = 51, 21 boys and 30 girls) and a football training group that performed an additional 3 x 40 min of small-sided football training per week (FT; two classes, n = 46, 23 boys and 23 girls). No baseline differences were observed in age, body composition, or echocardiographic variables between FT and CON. After the 10-week intervention, left ventricular posterior wall diameter was increased in FT compared with CON [0.4 ± 0.7 vs -0.1 ± 0.6 (± SD) mm; P ( 0.01] as was the interventricular septum thickness (0.2 ± 0.7 vs -0.2 ± 0.8 mm; P ( 0.001). Global isovolumetric relaxation time increased more in FT than in CON (3.8 ± 10.4 vs -0.9 ± 6.6 ms, P ( 0.05) while the change in ventricular systolic ejection fraction tended to be higher (1.4 ± 8.0 vs -1.1 ± 5.5%; P = 0.08). No changes were observed in resting heart rate or blood pressure. In conclusion, a short-term, school-based intervention comprising small-sided football sessions resulted in significant structural and functional cardiac adaptations in pre-adolescent children. Verf.-Referat.