ACC: The Agony of Long-Distance Runners -- Coronary Plaque

Oops. A group of asymptomatic runners vs. a group of persons suspected of heart disease and, according to the conventional wisdom, the "sick" people win.

A group of elite long-distance runners had less body fat, better lipid profiles, and better heart rates than people being tested for cardiac disease, but, paradoxically, the runners had more calcified plaque in their heart arteries, according to a study reported here.

Investigators performed computed tomography angiography on 25 people who had run at least one marathon a year since 1985, according to senior author Robert Schwartz, MD, of the Minneapolis Heart Institute and Foundation. They compared the athletes with 23 control patients who were undergoing the same scan for symptomatic or suspected heart abnormalities...

"You have to consider that these runners may be in a constant state of inflammation, and that may be why we are seeing more plaque," added the elder Schwartz.

He said the researchers, who originally set out to compare their results with European studies using electron beam CT, sent letters to elite runners identified as having completed at least one marathon race in each of the last 25 years. "All the runners we contacted agreed to be in the study," he noted.

The investigators also identified a control group of 23 men who were undergoing coronary CT angiography for clinical reasons, typically for elevated risk factors or abnormal or/inconclusive stress tests.

The participants underwent 64-slice computed tomography angiography and were compared for blood pressure, heart rate, and serum lipids. The scan data were analyzed using commercial plaque characterization software for calcified and noncalcified plaque and calcium score.

No one is sure exactly what the plaque findings mean.

Yep.

Still think they have any idea what they are talking about?