Training type and vascular health in young male athletes: A comparison of brachial and central blood pressure and pulse wave velocity
Baumgartner L, Haferanke J, Dettenhofer M, Engl T, Freilinger S, Huber S et al. · Research Square · 2026
Abstract
Background: Regular exercise influences cardiovascular development in children and adolescents; however, vascular adaptations may differ according to the predominant exercise demands of specific sports. Whether broad sport categories adequately capture these differences remains unclear. This study compared blood pressure and pulse wave velocity (PWV) among young athletes from different sport categories and explored sport-specific vascular profiles.
Methods: This study pooled data from three cohorts including 532 boys aged 8–17 years. Participants comprised competitive athletes (≥ 3 h/week training) and controls (
Results: After adjustment, significant group effects were observed for bDBP (p
Discussion: Sport-specific vascular differences were mainly evident in cSBP and bDBP, whereas adjusted bSBP and PWV did not differ across broad sport categories. Higher cSBP in power athletes suggests that central hemodynamics may be more sensitive than peripheral systolic pressure to sport-specific loading. Cluster-derived profiles crossed conventional sport categories, indicating that broad classifications may obscure heterogeneity between disciplines. These exploratory
Findings: support more differentiated sport-specific cardiovascular phenotyping but require longitudinal validation accounting for growth and biological maturation.