Cardiocirculatory Stress in Professional Football (Soccer) Coaches.

Abstract

Objective:It was intended to quantify cardiocirculatory stress and risk of professional football (soccer) coaches during competition.Design:Descriptive cross-sectional study.Setting:Medical screening examination and measurements during match.Participants:Seventeen coaches and 11 assistant coaches of the 2 highest German football leagues (male coaches; 46 ± 7 years; 8 ± 7 years in job).Independent variables:Professional football matches with highly competitive character were chosen and monitored for elicited cardiocirculatory stress and possible damage.Main Outcome Measures:Indicators of general health status, occurrence of arrhythmias, and course of heart rate and cardiac biomarkers (brain natriuretic peptide [BNP], troponin I) during the match.Results:Besides a few preexisting cardiovascular diseases, medical screening revealed a risk factor profile similar to the general population and above-average maximal/submaximal cycle ergometry performance: Pmax 2.9 ± 0.5 W*kg−1; PWC130 1.9 ± 0.5 W*kg−1. No match-induced changes were detected for BNP (20.5 ± 9.4 to 19.7 ± 10.7 pg/mL; P = 0.48) and troponin I (12.6 ± 16.5 to 10.5 ± 14.1 ng/L; P = 0.31). Maximal heart rate during the first and second half was 127 ± 15 and 132 ± 19 beats per minute, respectively. No match-induced arrhythmias of higher degree were detected.Conclusions:Head and assistant coaches of German professional football teams do not show any match-induced cardiac damage, despite considerable cardiocirculatory stress. Possibly, their above-average fitness level saves them from more detrimental outcomes.