Enhanced cardiovascular hemodynamics in endurance-trained postmenopausal women athletes

Purpose: We sought to determine whether older women athletes who had habitu ally performed vigorous endurance exercise training had higher stroke volum es and cardiac outputs than sedentary postmenopausal women during maximal e xercise. Methods: Seventeen endurance-trained, postmenopausal women athlete s (age 65 +/- 4 yr; (V)over dotO(2max) 2.11 +/- 0.31 L . min(-1), 38.3 mL . kg(-1) min(-1)) and 14 sedentary, postmenopausal women (age 63 +/- 5 yr; ( V)over dotO(2max), 1.41 +/- 0.22 L . min(-1), 23.7 +/- 3.5 mL . kg(-1) min( -1)) performed maximal treadmill exercise while cardiac output (via acetyle ne rebreathing) and other cardiovascular hemodynamics were measured. Approx imately half of the subjects in each group were on hormone replacement ther apy (HRT). Results: The greater (V)over dotO(2max) of the athletes was the result of a greater cardiac output (12.8 +/- 1.6 vs. 9.3 +/- 1.4 L . min(-1 )) resulting from their significantly larger stroke volume (80 +/- 10 vs 57 +/- 10 mL) at maximal exercise. There were no significant differences in m aximal cardiac output or maximal stroke volume related to HRT status in the sedentary women or athletes. Conclusions: These data indicate that enduran ce-trained, competitive, postmenopausal women have higher stroke volumes an d cardiac outputs during maximal exercise, than their sedentary peers. Howe ver, these data suggest that HRT may not affect maximal CV function in sede ntary or endurance-trained postmenopausal women.