Does cardiac morphology predict plasma brain natriuretic Peptide levels in adolescent athletes?

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship of plasma levels of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) to physiologic parameters and cardiac morphologic characteristics in a population of young athletes. Our hypothesis is that physiologic and cardiac morphologic characteristics do not predict BNP levels in adolescent athletes. DESIGN Observational study. SETTING Outpatient hospital. PARTICIPANTS Thirty healthy male adolescent high school football players (16.0 +/- 1.1 years). INTERVENTIONS Physical exam, electrocardiography, plasma BNP measurement by rapid fluorescent immunoassay, and limited echocardiography. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Null hypothesis-physiologic parameters and cardiac morphology do not predict plasma BNP levels in healthy adolescent football players. Significance level set at P < 0.05. RESULTS Plasma BNP for this population was 11.9 +/- 10.2 pg/mL. There was no correlation between BNP and mean arterial pressure (r = -0.09, P = 0.64), body mass index (r = 0.11, P = 0.57), interventricular septal thickness (r = -0.15, P = 0.44), left ventricular (LV) wall thickness (r = 0.00, P = 0.99), relative wall thickness (r = -0.04, P = 0.84), LV mass (r = 0.05, P = 0.79), or LV mass index (r = 0.11, P = 0.55). CONCLUSIONS Plasma BNP levels in healthy adolescent athletes have no correlation to body mass index or LV mass, even when corrected for body surface area.