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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2024 Nov;12(21):e70116.
doi: 10.14814/phy2.70116.

The impact of exercise intensity and duration for swim training-induced adaptations in cardiac structure and function in women with mild hypertension

Tórur Sjúrðarson  1 , Nikolai B Nordsborg  2 , Jacobina Kristiansen  1   3   4 , Lars Juel Andersen  5 , Peter Krustrup  6   7 , Kasper Kyhl  5   8 , Magni Mohr  1   6
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

The impact of exercise intensity and duration for swim training-induced adaptations in cardiac structure and function in women with mild hypertension

Tórur Sjúrðarson et al. Physiol Rep. 2024 Nov.

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the impact of swim training intensity and duration on cardiac structure and function in mildly hypertensive women. Sixty-two mildly hypertensive women were randomized to 15 weeks of either (1) high-intensity swimming (HIS, n = 21), (2) moderate-intensity swimming (MOD, n = 21) or (3) control (CON, n = 20). Training sessions occurred three times per week. Cardiac measurements were conducted using echocardiography pre- and post-intervention. Both the HIS and MOD groups demonstrated significant within-group increases in left ventricular mass: 7.3% [1.2; 13.2] (p = 0.02) for HIS and 6.2% [0.5; 11.8] (p = 0.03) for MOD. The MOD group also demonstrated a significant increase in left ventricular internal dimension at end-diastole by 2.4% [0.2; 4.6] (p = 0.03). Post-hoc analysis of diastolic function markers revealed reduced mitral valve A velocity in both HIS (-14% [-25; -3], p = 0.02) and MOD (-13% [-23; -3], p = 0.01), leading to increased mitral valve E/A ratios of 27% [10; 47] (p = 0.003) and 22% [5; 40] (p = 0.01), respectively. Additionally, only MOD demonstrated increased left atrial diameter of 4.9% [0.7; 9.1] (p =0.02). A significant time×group effect (p = 0.02) existed for global longitudinal strain, which increased by 1.6% [0.2; 3.0] (p = 0.03) in MOD only. In conclusion, swim training for 15 weeks increased left ventricular mass and improved markers of diastolic function in mildly hypertensive women. These independent of exercise intensity and duration in mildly hypertensive women.

Keywords: cardiac adaptation; cardiac function; cardiac structure; echocardiography; swimming.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors report no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The figure shows examples of representative original Doppler echocardiographic images taken pre‐ and post‐intervention in a participant from HIS. Top: The pulsed Doppler recordings of mitral inflow pre (left) and post (right) intervention, showing early (E wave) and late (A wave) diastolic transmitral flow. Bottom: Pulsed‐wave tissue Doppler measurement at the lateral mitral annulus pre (left) and post (right) intervention, used to assess E′.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The figure shows mean values for indexed left ventricular mass (a) and left ventricular mass (b) in histograms with each participant shown as a dotted line in HIS, MOD and CON measured before (white bars) and after (gray bars) the 15‐week intervention. p‐values from the Sidak‐adjusted pairwise comparisons are presented for significant findings; parentheses indicate statistical tendencies (p < 0.1).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
The figure shows mean values for the mitral valve E/A ratio (a), the E' average (b), the E/E' average (c) and the indexed left atrial diameter (d) in histograms with each participant shown as a dotted line in HIS, MOD and CON measured before (white bars) and after (gray bars) the 15‐week intervention. p‐values from the Sidak‐adjusted pairwise comparisons are presented for significant findings; parentheses indicate statistical tendencies (p < 0.1).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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