ORIGINAL ARTICLES  EXERCISE AND SPORTS CARDIOLOGY 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2011 December;51(4):633-8

Copyright © 2012 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Echocardiographic study of structure and functional cardiac profile of football referees

Ruiz Caballero J. A. ¹, Brito Ojeda E. ¹, García-Aranda J. M. ², Mallo J. ³, Helsen W. ⁴, Sarmiento S. ¹, García-Manso J. M. ¹, Navarro Valdivielso M. E. ¹ ✉

¹ Physical Education Department, University of Las Palmas of Gran Canaria, Spain; ² Refereeing Department International Federation of Football Association (FIFA), Switzerland; ³ Faculty of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences (INEF), Technical University of Madrid (UPM), Spain; ⁴ Biomedical Kinesiology Department Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

AIM: The aim of this study was to analyze, through echocardiography, the structure and functional cardiac profile of national category Spanish soccer referees.
METHODS:The sample consisted of 54 licensed referees, who belonged to the Football Inter-Insular Federation of Las Palmas. The sample presented a mean age of 28.52±6.39 years, a height of 1.76±0.07 m, a body mass of 77.26±10.74 kg and a Body Mass Index of 24.90±2-73 kg/m2. The diastolic and systolic dimensions of the left ventricle were 50.03±4.79 mm and 33.74±5.23 mm, respectively. The thicknesses of the interventricular septum and the posterior wall of the left ventricle were 9.77±1.53 mm and 9.47±1.54 mm, respectively. The left ventricular mass was 112.80±26.53 g/m2, the diastolic volume of the left ventricle 135.09±39.63 mL and the ejected volume 47.34±12.44 mL/m2.
RESULTS:This study shows that the echocardiographic profile of football referees is characterized by presenting an increase in the left ventricular mass caused by an increase of the cardiac chambers and a normal systolic and diastolic function. The values obtained by football referees were higher than those found in sedentary people and lower than in professional football players.
CONCLUSION: These differences may be due to the different physical training workloads employed by football players and referees.