Sports Cardiology
(Prof. Dr. med. Christian Schmied & PD Dr. med. David Niederseer)
Sports Cardiology focuses on the cardiovascular care of athletes, and cardiovascular aspects of physically active individuals and cardiac patients that do sports. It includes the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of heart disease in relation to exercise. Sports Cardiology aims for development of tailored training programmes to improve performance, safety and disease prognosis for cardiac patients and athletes of all sporting disciplines. Sports Cardiology integrates knowledge from cardiology, sport science and exercise physiology to optimise cardiovascular health and athletic performance and safety.
A main area of research is the evaluation of the cardiovascular effects of sport and exercise on cardiovascular health of elite and recreational athletes. Studies in this area aim to quantify and understand the risk of cardiac arrhythmia and other cardiovascular diseases in athletes, to name an example. Another key aspect of sports cardiology is the development and optimisation of diagnostic and monitoring methods. This includes innovative technologies, such as wearable ECG devices that enable continuous monitoring of cardiac activity and thus facilitate early detection of abnormalities. The analysis of risk factors for cardiovascular disease in athletes is important to target preventive measures for at-risk populations.
A main area of research is the evaluation of the cardiovascular effects of sport and exercise on cardiovascular health of elite and recreational athletes. Studies in this area aim to quantify and understand the risk of cardiac arrhythmia and other cardiovascular diseases in athletes, to name an example. Another key aspect of sports cardiology is the development and optimisation of diagnostic and monitoring methods. This includes innovative technologies, such as wearable ECG devices that enable continuous monitoring of cardiac activity and thus facilitate early detection of abnormalities. The analysis of risk factors for cardiovascular disease in athletes is important to target preventive measures for at-risk populations.
Additionally, the prevention of cardiovascular disease through regular exercise is a field of interest of sport cardiology. Physical activity as a tool for prevention is becoming increasingly important, since physical inactivity and associated diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension and dyslipidaemia tolls drastically increase and pose worldwide economic and health burden.
Also, the effect of exercise on patients with existing heart disease is investigated to ensure that exercise programmes are safe and effective. The development and evaluation of rehabilitation strategies for cardiac patients are another research focus of sports cardiology. Evidence-based guidelines for training programmes after cardiovascular events are being developed to support the process of recreation and regeneration/healing and thus enable a safe return to exercise and everyday physical activity of patients. Clinical studies are an essential part for the evaluation of training and rehabilitation effectiveness, providing important findings to improve training therapy and understanding individual adaptation to exercise of cardiac patients.
The integration of sports medicine approaches into cardiac care ensures that sports recommendations are optimally tailored to the individual needs of cardiac patients and athletes with pre-existing cardiovascular disease.
Research Team
Prof. Dr. med. Christian Schmied
PD Dr. med. David Niederseer
Dr. med. Jan Vontobel
Dr. med. Michael Stiefel
Dr. med. Stefano Caselli
PD Dr. Dr. med. Martin Lanzer
Dr. med. Angelika Hammerer
Dr. med. univ. Greta Hametner
Dr. med. Yakup Yakupoglu
Dr. med. Amaar Ujeyl
Dr. med. Valeria Heller
Gloria Petrasch, MSc, BEd
Nina Schmidt
Marla Coch
Jan Hirt
Research Projects
- Echocardiographic criteria of left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy in black athletes from homogenous ethnic descent
- Blood pressure behavior during exercise in athletes, non-athletes and patients with diastolic dysfunction and a hypertensive response to exercise
- Exercise behavior and its impact on structural and functional parameters in patients with arrhythmogenic (right ventricular) cardiopathy
- Hemodynamics in Athlete's Heart
- Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation
- Exhalomics in Athlete's Heart: detection of RED-S
Recent publications
- Ghidoni C, van der Stouwe JG, Würzburger L, Wiech P, Vontobel J, Bohm P, Moser G, Petrasch G, Rossi VA, Schmied CM, Caselli S, Niederseer D. Blood pressure response during exercise testing in individuals with and without hypertension: The value of the recovery phase. Eur J Clin Invest. 2024 Jul 12:e14285. doi: 10.1111/eci.14285. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38994816.
- Ghidoni C, Kruzik M, Rossi VA, Caselli S, Schmied CM, Niederseer D. Definitions for Hypertensive Response to Exercise. Cardiol Rev. 2024 May-Jun 01;32(3):273-278. doi: 10.1097/CRD.0000000000000506. Epub 2022 Dec 5. PMID: 36729898.
- Gaugeler BS, van der Stouwe JG, Templin C, Schmied CM, Lanzer M, Niederseer D. Dental Health Benefits of Swimming in Chlorinated Water. Dent J (Basel). 2024 Mar 31;12(4):87. doi: 10.3390/dj12040087. PMID: 38667999; PMCID: PMC11049663.
- van der Stouwe JG, Rossi VA, Ghidoni C, Würzburger L, Wiech P, Schweiger V, Petrasch G, Moser G, Schmied CM, Vontobel J, Caselli S, Niederseer D. Effect of a Hypertensive Response During Exercise on Growth Rates of Aortic Diameters. Am J Hypertens. 2024 Jul 15;37(8):604-611. doi: 10.1093/ajh/hpae050. PMID: 38693860.