TITLE:
Young footballers, assessed by deep breathing test, have a higher vagal response
AUTHORS:
Souad Aboudrar, Hanane Rkain, Leila Errguig, Youssouf Radjab, Latéfa Oukerraj, Abdellatif Azzaoui, Azeddine Ibrahimi, Leslie Coghlan, Mohammed Cherti, Halima Benjelloun, Taoufiq Dakka
KEYWORDS:
Deep Breathing Test; Parasympathetic Response; Autonomic Nervous System; Sudden Death; Trained Footballers
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Molecular and Integrative Physiology,
Vol.2 No.3,
August
23,
2012
ABSTRACT: Parasympathetic function can be assessed by the deep breathing test (DB) as a simple and reproducible cardiovascular reflex. The aim of this study is to use this test to compare the vagal response of a young footballers group to of age-matched untrained normal subjects. Deep breathing test was performed in 2 groups: one of 20 adult young footballers (average age of 19.3 ± 0.6 years), and a second age-matched group of 20 untrained subjects (average age of 19.6 ± 0.6 years). Subjects underwent the DB test after 30 min resting in supine position, and responses were expressed as a percentage of variation of heart rate during the stimulation. Student’s t-test was used to evaluate statistical differences among the two groups for all parameters (vagal response, heart rate, VO2max….) and considering p