[Prevention of cardiovascular diseases through sport and physical activity: A question of intensity?]. / Prävention kardiovaskulärer Erkrankungen durch Sport und körperliche Aktivität : Eine Frage der Intensität?

Coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. A sedentary lifestyle accounts for 9% of premature mortality and creates a substantial health economic burden. Measurement of physical activity in daily practice refers to metabolic equivalent tasks and assessment of cardiopulmonary fitness to measurements of peak oxygen uptake during ergometry, which can be used to classify an individual's physical activity and maximum exercise capacity. Physical activity is a multifunctional intervention tool in prevention, which exerts its effects on multiple biochemical pathways, in contrast to conventional drug therapy. These changes reduce cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Moderate physical exercise reduces blood pressure, improves insulin sensitivity and dyslipidemia, improves body composition and enhances weight reduction. Exercise of higher intensity seems to have superior effects compared to moderate intensity training; however, the training volume also seems to be important, as negative effects of long-term intensive training have been reported, e.g. atrial fibrillation or coronary sclerosis. Overall, exercise training has a major role in primary prevention of cardiovascular disease but seems to have a maximum threshold for benefit, which may be exceeded by some individuals.

Atrial fibrillation and long-term sports practice: epidemiology and mechanisms.

BACKGROUND: Lone atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia of the heart and is considered to have a higher prevalence in athletes, especially in endurance sports. METHODS: We conducted an extensive literature research in pubmed using the key words s ports and atrial fibrillation. RESULTS: The majority of studies have methodological limitations due to different inclusion criteria, such as age, type of sport, training level as well as statistical bias. The inconsistency of data is reflected by the considerable range of AF occurrence, spanning from 0.3 to 12.8 %. CONCLUSIONS: We consider it reasonable to separate a study population into sedentary individuals, leisure time sportsmen/women and elite athletes. A distinction between the categories may be achieved through a combination of exercise history, capacity (e.g. MET hours/week, e.g. VO2max) and competitive results. Since there is a large span in the analyzed age groups (24-84 years), we claim that the focus should be laid upon the 45- to 65-year-olds due to a sound detection rate of true positives. Finally, we discuss ways to increase the detection rate of paroxysmal AF and comment on new therapeutic options.