Electronic letters to:

Review:
Barbara J. Nicklas, Tongjian You, and Marco Pahor
Behavioural treatments for chronic systemic inflammation: effects of dietary weight loss and exercise training
CMAJ 2005; 172: 1199-1209 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]
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[Read eLetter] Systemic inflammation and vigorous aerobic training.
Giuseppe Lippi   (26 April 2005)

Systemic inflammation and vigorous aerobic training. 26 April 2005
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Giuseppe Lippi
Ist. Chimica e Microscopia Clinica, Dip. Scienze Morfologico-Biomediche, Verona, Italy

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Re: Systemic inflammation and vigorous aerobic training.

ulippi{at}tin.it Giuseppe Lippi

Systemic inflammation and vigorous aerobic training.

Giuseppe Lippi, MD, Gian Luca Salvagno, MD, Gian Cesare Guidi, MD,

Istituto di Chimica e Microscopia Clinica, Dipartimento di Scienze Morfologico-Biomediche, Università degli Studi di Verona, Verona, Italy. ulippi@tin.it

Persistent inflammation, as revealed by increased levels of inflammatory biomarkers, is associated with several chronic disorders, as recently highlighted by the review of Nicklas and colleagues (1). Accordingly, current guidelines recommend 30 minutes or more of daily, moderate-intensity physical exercise (2). However, little is known on the effects of vigorous aerobic training on inflammation and debate continues regarding the intensity of physical activity required to achieve most favorable health changes, without counterbalancing the benefits (1). To investigate the association between vigorous aerobic training and inflammation, we analyzed the concentration of high-sensitive C reactive protein (hs-CRP) in sedentary healthy controls, amateur road cyclists, professional road cyclists and professional cross-country skiers, matched for age and sex. All subjects were in a fasted state and athletes had rested for 24-48 hrs since the last training session. Hs-CRP was measured by the reference assay on the Behring Nephelometer (BN, Dade Behring GmbH, Marburg, Germany). No significant differences could be observed in the median concentration of hs-CRP between sedentary controls (0.67 mg/L), amateur cyclists (0.54 mg/L, P=0.85), professional cyclists (0.59 mg/L, P=0.99) and professional skiers (0.55 mg/L, P=0.32), neither between professional and amateur athletes. Additionally, the percentage of patients with hs-CRP levels above the 3.0 mg/L high-risk threshold was comparable and not statistically different among groups. These data suggest that healthy individuals subjected to vigorous aerobic training are not likely to develop persistent phlogistic reactions and the advantageous metabolic changes induced by exercise training might be safely used as preventive or therapeutic measures in patients with chronic disorders.

References 1. Nicklas BJ, You T, Pahor M. Behavioural treatments for chronic systemic inflammation: effects of dietary weight loss and exercise training. CMAJ 2005;172:1199-209. 2. Lee IM, Sesso HD, Oguma Y, Paffenbarger RS Jr. Relative intensity of physical activity and risk of coronary heart disease. Circulation 2003;107:1110-6.

Conflict of Interest:

None declared