Daniela Lucini1,2, Roberto Sala3, Antonio Spataro4, Mara Malacarne3,5, Manuela Benzi4, Stefano Tamorri4, Massimo Pagani3. 1. BIOMETRA University of Milano, Via Alessandro Manzoni, 56, 20089, Rozzano (Milano), Italy. daniela.lucini@unimi.it. 2. Exercise Medicine Unit, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, Rozzano (Milano), Italy. daniela.lucini@unimi.it. 3. BIOMETRA University of Milano, Via Alessandro Manzoni, 56, 20089, Rozzano (Milano), Italy. 4. Sports Medicine Institute CONI Rome, Rome, Italy. 5. Exercise Medicine Unit, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, Rozzano (Milano), Italy.
Abstract
PURPOSE: Optimal autonomic regulation and stress resilience might be considered critical elements of athletic performance. We hypothesize that a novel unitary autonomic index for sports (ANSIs), together with a somatic stress related symptom score (4SQ) might help characterize athletes who were eventually selected for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Italian team (Rio +). METHODS: In this retrospective study we examined 778 athletes (age 24.4 ± 6.7 yrs) who underwent a planned yearly pre-participation screening. All athletes underwent clinical, autonomic and exercise ECG evaluation. The combination of vagal and sympathetic indices from RR variability into ANSIs was performed by radar plot and percent ranking of index variables. We assessed (Rio +) versus (Rio -) athletes also after subdivision into three sport intensity groups (low, mid and high intensity). RESULTS: Overall there were no significant differences between (Rio +) and (Rio -) athletes when considering individual spectral derived variables. Conversely, the unitary Index ANSIs was significantly higher in (Rio +) compared to (Rio -) athletes (respectively 54.5 ± 29.5 and 47.9 ± 28.4 p = 0.014). This difference was particularly evident (p = 0.017) in the group of athletes characterized by both high static and dynamic components. 4SQ was smaller in the (Rio +) group, particularly in the groups of athletes characterized by both low-medium static and dynamic components. CONCLUSIONS: ANSIs, a proxy of integrated cardiac autonomic regulation and simple assessment of resilience to stress, may differentiate Italian athletes who were eventually selected for participation in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games from those who were not, suggesting the possibility of a "winning functional phenotype".
PURPOSE: Optimal autonomic regulation and stress resilience might be considered critical elements of athletic performance. We hypothesize that a novel unitary autonomic index for sports (ANSIs), together with a somatic stress related symptom score (4SQ) might help characterize athletes who were eventually selected for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games Italian team (Rio +). METHODS: In this retrospective study we examined 778 athletes (age 24.4 ± 6.7 yrs) who underwent a planned yearly pre-participation screening. All athletes underwent clinical, autonomic and exercise ECG evaluation. The combination of vagal and sympathetic indices from RR variability into ANSIs was performed by radar plot and percent ranking of index variables. We assessed (Rio +) versus (Rio -) athletes also after subdivision into three sport intensity groups (low, mid and high intensity). RESULTS: Overall there were no significant differences between (Rio +) and (Rio -) athletes when considering individual spectral derived variables. Conversely, the unitary Index ANSIs was significantly higher in (Rio +) compared to (Rio -) athletes (respectively 54.5 ± 29.5 and 47.9 ± 28.4 p = 0.014). This difference was particularly evident (p = 0.017) in the group of athletes characterized by both high static and dynamic components. 4SQ was smaller in the (Rio +) group, particularly in the groups of athletes characterized by both low-medium static and dynamic components. CONCLUSIONS: ANSIs, a proxy of integrated cardiac autonomic regulation and simple assessment of resilience to stress, may differentiate Italian athletes who were eventually selected for participation in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games from those who were not, suggesting the possibility of a "winning functional phenotype".
Authors: F D Iellamo; F Pigozzi; A Spataro; V Di Salvo; F Fagnani; A Roselli; M Rizzo; M Malacarne; M Pagani; D Lucini Journal: J Sports Med Phys Fitness Date: 2006-12 Impact factor: 1.637
Authors: K Imai; H Sato; M Hori; H Kusuoka; H Ozaki; H Yokoyama; H Takeda; M Inoue; T Kamada Journal: J Am Coll Cardiol Date: 1994-11-15 Impact factor: 24.094
Authors: Alicia D'Souza; Annalisa Bucchi; Anne Berit Johnsen; Sunil Jit R J Logantha; Oliver Monfredi; Joseph Yanni; Sukhpal Prehar; George Hart; Elizabeth Cartwright; Ulrik Wisloff; Halina Dobryznski; Dario DiFrancesco; Gwilym M Morris; Mark R Boyett Journal: Nat Commun Date: 2014-05-13 Impact factor: 14.919