Diagnostic performance of exercise testing in master population according to cardiovascular risk: a study of 857 Spanish athletes.

Background: Although cardiovascular screening including exercise testing (ET) is a recognized tool, especially in high cardiovascular risk individuals, recommendations for master athletes over 35 years are still limited, and its predictive ability for detecting ischemic disease may be poor.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 857 asymptomatic master athletes (mean age 46.2±7.4 years), with regular engagement in moderate to high intensity physical exercise and at least a submaximal exercise test result reaching 85% of the predicted maximum heart rate. Only 36 athletes (4% of the total) matched the conditions to be included in the high cardiovascular risk group.

Results: When analyzing exercise test results, only 35 athletes reached an abnormal result, which represents about 4% of the total: 10 individuals due to suspected ischemia, 18 due to abnormal tension response, and 7 for arrhythmic events. No differences were found according cardiovascular risk.

Conclusions: In this large sample of asymptomatic master athletes from a Mediterranean area, the rate of abnormal ET is very low and is apparently not related with cardiovascular risk.