The Effect Of Game-Stimuli On Arrhythmia Response In NCAA, Division I- A Football Coaches

Abstract

PURPOSE While previous studies document increases in heart rate and blood pressure in college coaches during game activity, the atrio-ventricular conduction patterns during game stress remain unresolved. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to quantitatively determine electrical conduction disturbances during game activity in selected NCAA, Division I-A football coaches. METHODS Ten coaches (age=38.6 ± 4.9yrs; mass = 116.3 ± 15.0kg; %BF=19.3 ± 4.2%) completed a GXT (Bruce Protocol) to determine conduction responses during exercise (EXCR). On the succeeding day, subjects underwent holter monitoring (Marquette Systems, Bothell, WA.) for four hours corresponding to game times in determining non-game conduction responses (NGCR) while being restricted to normal daily activities. The holter monitoring protocol was repeated during the football game to obtain the total number of arrhythmias elicited during the game (EGCR) and responses in each of the four quarters (EGCR1, EGCR2, EGCR3, EGCR4). RESULTS An analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures revealed a significant main effect (p<0.001) within the factors. A Tukey's post hoc was implemented for all significant f-ratios. Electrical heart disturbances (sinus tachycardia, supraventricular tachycardia, unifocal PVC's, multifocal PVC's) were observed ∼15 to 18 times more frequently during EGCR (110.25 ± 27.87) relative to NGCR (7.38 ± 5.40) and EXCR (6.25 ± 2.33), respectively. There were no significant differences between conduction responses during each quarter (GCR1=GCR2=GCR3=GCR4). CONCLUSIONS The electrical instability remained relatively equal during each quarter of official play, however there were significantly more episodes of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias experienced during game activity in comparison to baseline and exercise stimuli in this particular sample of Division I-A football coaches. Supported by Quinton