13th International Congress
THE "NEW FRONTIERS"
OF ARRHYTHMIAS 1998

January 24-31, 1998
Marilleva, Trento, Italy

RT-217

Syncope in middle-aged endurance athletes

G. Tortorella, C. Tomasi, A. Manari, C. Menozzi, U. Guiducci.
Department of Cardiology, S.M. Nuova Hospital, Reggio Emilia, Italy

Introduction

It's well known that in physically trained subjects, particularly in endurance athletes, vasovagal manoeuvres elicit positive responses, both in subjects who have experienced syncope, and in those symptom-free^1-4.

Amid general population syncope more frequently occurs in young and old people⁵. Given the fact that most athletes enrolled in clinical studies are adolescent or young adults, an overlapping between age and training could magnify the role of the latter, and of training-induced neurovascular adaptation. Thus, we studied the epidemiology of syncope and the neuroreflex behavior, as described by vasovagal manoeuvres, in a group of middle-aged trained endurance athletes as well as in two age-matched groups of recreationally trained and sedentary normal subjects.