Left ventricular (LV) filling profiles in elite baseball players has not be
en reported in the literature. Also, angiotensin system activity in athlete
s has never been reported. We used echocardiography to compare 20 male elit
e baseball players (aged 21.9+/-1.0 years) with those of age- and sex-match
ed healthy sedentary subjects. Compared with the normal group, the athlete
group showed a significant increase in LV mass, LV diastolic and systolic d
imension, and left atrial dimension (P<0.05, <0.001, <0.001, and <0.001, re
spectively). No differences in relative wall thickness or fractional shorte
ning were found between these two groups. Diastolic filling profiles, inclu
ding peak early diastolic filling velocity (E), peak late diastolic filling
velocity (A), E:A ratio, early time-velocity integral (E-i), atrial time-v
elocity integral (A(i)), E-i:A(i) ratio, early filling time, deceleration t
ime of early filling, and isovolumic relaxation time, were similar in both
groups. Angiotensin system activity, including plasma renin activity, plasm
a aldosterone, and 24-h urinary aldosterone excretion, showed no difference
between these two groups. Conclusion: This study suggests that normal LV f
illing profile, which is mediated partly by normal angiotensin system activ
ity, is not related to increase in LV dimension and mass in elite baseball
players. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.