Volume 115, Nº 1, July 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36660/abc.20180441
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Family History of Hypertension Impairs the Autonomic Balance, but not the Endothelial Function, in Young Soccer Players
Walter Vargas
Katya Rigatto
Figure 1 – LF/HF= Ratio between low and high frequency power components, i.e., the autonomic balance of the FM-N, F-H, M-H and FM-H groups. *Differences between FM-H and FM-N groups (p<0.005).
Abstract
Background: The family history of hypertension (FHH) imposes consistent risk for diverse chronic diseases that are accompanied by hypertension. Furthermore, the heart rate variability (HRV) and flow-mediated dilation (FMD) are both related to maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), and are usually impaired during hypertension.
Objective: To compare the autonomic modulation, the endothelial function (EF) and maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) of young athletes, separated according to their parents’ blood pressure (BP) history, in order to study the influence of their genetic background on those parameters.
Methods: A total of 46 young male soccer players (18±2 years of age) were divided into four groups: 1-normotensive father and mother (FM-N); 2-only father was hypertensive (F-H); 3-only mother was hypertensive (M-H); 4-father and mother were hypertensive (FM-H). Measurements of BP, FMD, HRV and VO2max were performed. The significance level adopted in the statistical analysis was 5%.
Results: The standard deviation of normal RR intervals (SDNN; FM-N=314±185; FM-H=182.4± 57.8), the square root of the mean squared differences in successive RR intervals (RMSSD; FM-N=248±134; FM-H=87±51), the number of interval differences of successive NN intervals greater than 50ms (NN50; FM-N=367±83.4; FM-H=229±55), the ratio derived by dividing NN50 by the total number of NN intervals (pNN50; FM-N=32.4±6.2; FM-H=21.1±5.3) and the high (HF; FM-N=49±8.9; FM-H=35.3±12) and low-frequency (LF; FM-N=50.9±8.9; FM-H=64.6±12) components, in normalized units (%), were significantly lower in the FM-H group than in the FM-N group (p<0.05). On the other hand, the LF/HF ratio (ms2) was significantly higher (p<0.05). We found no significant difference between the groups in VO2max and FMD (p<0.05).
Conclusions: In young male soccer players, the FHH plays a potentially role in autonomic balance impairment, especially when both parents are hypertensive, but present no changes in VO2max and FMD. In this case, there is a decrease in the sympathetic-vagal control, which seems to precede the endothelial damage (Arq Bras Cardiol. 2020; 115(1):52-58)
Keywords: Hypertension; Blood Pressure; Heredity/genetics; Soccer; Athletes; Youth Sports; Endothelium/function
