In memory of professor arsenio veicsteinas: aerobic fitness in female paralympic athletes with a locomotor impairment

Purpose: To investigate cardiovascular health and aerobic fitness (oxygen uptake peak—VO2peak) of female Paralympic athletes (FPA) competing in sports with different energy expenditure (EE). Methods: Forty-seven FPA with a locomotor impairment and different health conditions -HC (31 with a spinal cord injury, 1 with spina bifida and 15 with other HC, e.g. lower limb amputation and poliomyelitis, etc.), selected to compete in 6 following Paralympic Games were submitted to the health and fitness evaluations (HFE) carried out in Rome (Institute of Sports Medicine and Sciences) on the basis of the agreements among Italian Paralympic Committee, Italian Olympic Committee and Sapienza, University of Rome. Data from the HFE were retrospectively analysed. The HFE included: 1) a comprehensive maximal incremental cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) carried out with an arm cranking ergometer with pulmonary, metabolic and electrocardiographic monitoring to assess VO2peak; 2) two- dimensional and doppler echocardiography to assess end-diastolic and end-systolic left ventricular (LV) cavity dimensions, anterior ventricular septal and posterior free- wall thicknesses and to calculate LV mass also indexed to body surface area (LVM/BSA). The 47 FPA were divided into 2 groups (G) depending on the EE of the practiced sport. G1 included 35 FPA competing in lower EE sports (table tennis, fencing, archery, field events in athletics and alpine skiing). G2 included 12 FPA competing in higher EE sports (sitting nordic skiing, long distance track events in athletics and swimming). Results: VO2peak (ml/kg/min) measured in the FPA of G2 (39.04 ± 16.52) was significantly higher than that measured in FPA of G1 (24.1 ± 1.35). No difference was found in the LVM/BSA (g/m2) of the FPA of the 2 groups, 74.7 ± 15.17 vs 78.4 ± 9.62, respectively in G1 and in G2. Conclusions: VO2peak, the synthetic parameter of the body’s overall ability to take in oxygen from the external environment, transport it in the body and have it utilised by working muscles, as well known, is determined by the maximal cardiac output (cardiac, central adaptations) and the maximal arterious-venous difference of the oxygen. The differences in VO2peak between the FPA competing in endurance sports are presumably determined by peripheral adaptations.