Aortic Root Dimensions and Pulse Wave Velocity in Young Competitive Athletes

The assessment of aortic root dimensions is a cornerstone in cardiac pre-participation screening as dilation can result in severe cardiac events. Moreover, it can be a hint for an underlying connective tissue disease, which needs individualized sports counseling. This study examines the prevalence of aortic root dilatation in a cohort and its relationship to arterial stiffness as an early marker of cardiovascular risk due to vascular aging. From May 2012 to March 2018, we examined 281 young male athletes (14.7 +/- 2.1 years) for their aortic root dimension. Moreover, we noninvasively assessed arterial stiffness parameter during pre-participation screening. Mean aortic diameter was 25.9 +/- 3.1 mm and 18 of the 281 (6.4%) athletes had aortic root dilation without other clinical evidence of connective tissue disease. After adjusting for BSA, there was no association of aortic root diameter to pulse wave velocity (p = -0.054 r = 0.368) nor to central blood pressure (p = -0.029 r = 0.634). Thus, although a significant proportion of young athletes had aortic root dilatation, which certainly needs regular follow up, no correlation with arterial stiffness was found. It could be suggested that a dilated aortic root in young athletes does not alter pulse waveform and pulse reflection, and thus there is no increased cardiovascular risk in those subjects.