CHARACTERISTICS OF BLOOD COMPOSITION PERTAINING TO MIDDLE AND OLD AGE RUNNERS / 体力科学

ABSTRACT

Preliminary studies on the blood composition were carried out with 40- to 82-year-old runners when they were at rest. 790 male subjects who had kept the routine training of running over a year were examined. And the results were compared those with the corresponding control groups who had no particular routine training.<BR>The results were as follows<BR>1. Runners' values for Red blood cell count and Hematocrit were decreased with age.<BR>2. Runners' values for Red blood cell count, Hemoglobin and Hematocrit were approximately 10%, 9% and 4% lower than those of the corresponding control groups of almost all age groups. On the other hand runners' values for MCH (Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin) were approximately 8% higher than the control group values for all age groups.<BR>3. Runners' values for reticulocyte count and osmotic fragility of the blood were within normal range.<BR>4. Comparison between runners of 10 km group and 25 km group of blood composition was made; the age group of forties of 25 km group of both Red blood cell count and Hematocrit were significantly lower than the corresponding 10 km group.<BR>5. Dailly training programs of 25 km runners were significantly longer than those of 10 km runners for all age groups.