Autonomic Nervous System, Fatigue and Intolerance to Physical Training, and Overtraining in High-Level Athletes

Autonomic Nervous System, Fatigue and Intolerance to Physical Training, and Overtraining in High-Level Athletes. A Multicentre Study

Sports training aims to enhance an athlete's performance (overcompensation). To do that, the athlete must go through periods of fatigue and lower performance (overreaching). When the training plan is balanced, this fatigue is short and reversible.If the training load is too heavy or if recuperation periods are too short, it can lead to persistence fatigue that may only be reversible in the long term. This state of fatigue is part of the broader clinical picture of overtraining, which includes stark changes in performance as well as mood and sleep disorders. Many prediction and characterization methods based on biological markers have been evaluated, but they have not been put into practice in sports training due to obstacles such as reliability, interindividual variability and high costs. This study aims to evaluate a new approach based on the variability of an individual's heart rate (RR variability), which is a way of measuring autonomic nervous system (ASN) activity. It is non-invasive, low-cost, and has already proven useful in athlete health monitoring.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Fatigue; Training; Athletes
• Intervention / Treatment: Device: ANS activity

Detailed Description

The investigators propose to describe the variation of these ANS regulation factors over a full year, in a population of high-level athletes, in order to measure changes in regulation which may be predictive of potential fatigue and intolerance to physical training, if such a syndrome came to be observed among the study group.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 131

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• France
  • Albertville, France, 73200
    • CH Albertville Moutiers
  • Besancon, France, 25000
    • CHU de Besançon
  • Bobigny, France, 93000
    • Université Paris XIII
  • Grenoble, France, 38000
    • CHU de Grenoble
  • Pointe A Pitre, France, 97110
    • CHU de Pointe à Pitre
  • Premanon, France, 39400
    • CNSN Centre médical de Prémanon
  • Saint-Etienne, France, 42000
    • CHU de Saint-Etienne
  • Toulouse, France, 31000
    • CREPS Toulouse Midi Pyrénées

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 14 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT, CHILD)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

High-level athlete, enrolled in a Ministry-recognized Pôle

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• High-level athlete, enrolled in a Ministry-recognized Pôle
• Participant signed the informed consent form

Exclusion Criteria:

• Confirmed current overtraining syndrome
• Known pregnancy on inclusion
• Athlete using cardio-inhibitor or cardio-accelerator drugs

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort	Intervention / Treatment
high-level athletes; High-level athlete, enrolled in a Ministry-recognized Pôle	Device: ANS activity; This ANS activity is measured by nocturnal heart rates records with Holter ECG.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity	This ANS is mesured during the night using a spectral analysis of nocturnal heart rate variability.	One year
Fatigue and physical training	Fatigue and physical training potetially due to overtraining, suspected based on a very significant, long-term worsening in performance	One year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
kinetic of the ANS activity	ANS is mesured during the night using a spectral analysis of nocturnal heart rate variability	Every 15 days (from the iclusion to one year)
orthostasis test	ANS activity measurements (RR variability) during active orthostasis transition on waking up in the morning	Every 15 days (from inclusion to one year)
French Society of Sports Medicine questionnaire	The questionnaire was designed to detect early signs of overtraining. It includes 54 yes/no questions. Subjects who answer "yes" to more than 20 questions are considered at risk for overtraining.	Every 15 days (from inclusion to one year)
POMS (Profile of Mood States) questionnaire		Every 3 months (from inclusion to inclusion)
Sleep quality questionnaire	The questionnaire is self-administered. It includes two parts. The first part consists of several questions regarding sleep during the previous night. The second part aims to evaluate the physical exertion load during the previous day's training session(s). Participants will fill one questionnaire/day for a whole week. Each questionnaire period must coincide with a training period (interseason, volume, intensity, or competition.)	Every 3 months (from inclusion to one year)

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Saint Etienne
• Collaborators: Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, France
• Investigators: Study Chair: Xavier BIGARD, MD PhD, Institut de Recherche Biomédicales des Armées

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: July 1, 2010
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): December 1, 2012
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): December 1, 2012

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 31, 2011
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 1, 2011
• First Posted (ESTIMATE): November 2, 2011

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ESTIMATE): March 6, 2013
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 5, 2013
• Last Verified: March 1, 2013

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Overtraining; High-level athlete; ANS activity
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Fatigue
• Other Study ID Numbers: 0908073; 2009-A00674-53 (OTHER: AFSSAPS)