The relationships between BNP levels with cardiac structure and function in resistance-trained athletes

Introduction: Echocardiography and the B-type natriuretic peptides (BNPs) provide powerful incremental assessment of cardiac function, clinical status, and outcome across the spectrum of cardiac disease. Although the previous studies demonstrated the relationships between BNP levels and cardiac structure and function in heart failure patients, but these relationships in athletes are not well known. The present study was conducted to examine the relationships between BNP levels with cardiac structure and function in resistance-trained athletes. Material & Methods: Fifteen resistance-trained male athletes (aged: 23.0 ± 1.4 years and BMI: 24.1 ± 1.4 kg/m2; ± SD) volunteered to participate in this study. BNP concentrations were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits and cardiac morphology and function were assessed by echocardiography. Spearman correlation test was used to analyze the relationship between the variables. Results: The results demonstrated that there were no significant relationships between BNP concentrations with posterior wall thickness of left ventricle at end diastole (PWTLV) (r = 0.35, P = 0.1), interventricular septal (r = 0.25, P = 0.3), aorta (r = 0.07, P = 0.8) and pulmonary artery (r = 0.06, P = 0.8) diameter, diastolic left ventricle internal dimension (DLVID) (r = 0.33, P = 0.2), systolic left ventricle internal dimension (SLVID) (r = 0.2, P = 0.4), left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) (r = 0.21, P = 0.4), left ventricle end-diastolic volume (LVEDV) (r = 0.23, P = 0.4) and left ventricle end-systolic volume (LVESV) (r = 0.23, P = 0.4). Conclusions: In conclusion, BNP concentration is not a powerful predictor for cardiac structure and function in resistance-trained athletes.