• Djordje G Jakovljevic, Lida Papakonstantinou, Andrew M Blamire, Guy A MacGowan, Roy Taylor, Kieren G Hollingsworth, and Michael I Trenell.
• From the Institute of Cellular Medicine, Newcastle Magnetic Resonance Centre (D.G.J., L.P., A.M.B., R.T., K.G.H., M.I.T.); MRC Centre for Ageing and Vitality (D.G.J., M.I.T.), and Department of Cardiology, Freeman Hospital (G.A.M.), Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom; and Institute for Genetic Medicine, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom (G.A.M.). d.jakovljevic@ncl.ac.uk michael.trenell@ncl.ac.uk.
• Circ Cardiovasc Imaging. 2015 Jan 1; 8 (1).

BackgroundHigher levels of physical activity are associated with reduced cardiovascular mortality but its effect on age-related changes in cardiac structure and function is unknown. The present study defines the effect of daily physical activity on age-related changes in cardiac structure, function, metabolism, and performance in healthy women.Methods And ResultsSixty-three healthy women were grouped according to age (young, 20-30 years, n=21; middle, 40-50 years, n=22; and older, 65-81 years, n=20) and daily physical activity level (low active<7500 and high active>12,500 steps/d). Participants underwent cardiac MRI including tissue tagging and 31P spectroscopy and exercise testing with noninvasive central hemodynamic measurements. Aging was associated with increased concentric remodeling (P<0.01) and left ventricular torsion (P<0.01), and a decline in diastolic function (P<0.01), cardiac phosphocreatine:ATP ratio (P<0.01), peak exercise cardiac power output (P<0.01), and O2 consumption (P<0.01). Older high-active women demonstrated a phosphocreatine:ATP ratio and relative peak O2 consumption similar to young low-active women, and 23% and 26% higher than older low-active women (phosphocreatine:ATP ratio, 1.9±0.2 versus 1.4±0.1; P<0.05 and O2 consumption, 24.1±3.8 versus 17.8±2.0 mL/[kg·min]; P<0.01). In older women, physical activity had no effect on eccentricity ratio (0.9±0.2 versus 0.8±0.1 g/mL; P=0.19), E/A ratio (1.3±0.5 versus 1.4±0.5; P=0.66), torsion (7.6±1.7 versus 8.0°±2.1°; P=0.20), and peak cardiac power output (3.4±0.7 versus 3.4±0.8 W; P=0.91).ConclusionsA higher level of daily physical activity preserves cardiac metabolism and exercise capacity with aging but has limited effect on age-related changes in concentric remodeling, diastolic function, and cardiac performance.© 2014 American Heart Association, Inc.

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