The Influence of Menopausal Status on Myocardial Stiffness and Exercise Capacity Among Female Masters Endurance Athletes.

November 4, 2025 updated by: Kathryn F. Larson, Mayo Clinic
The purpose of this research is to study postmenopausal female masters athletes to see if they will show greater myocardial stiffness and reduced exercise capacity than premenopausal females and similarly aged male masters athletes.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

48

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Minnesota
      • Rochester, Minnesota, United States, 55905
        • Mayo Clinic

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Masters athletes (40-70 yrs of age) with a longstanding history of competitive endurance athletic performance defined as >15 years of continuous athletic training for at least 7 hours per week, and ongoing engagement in competitive events, will be recruited from Mayo registry and from the local athletic community via brochures within the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center and the Mayo Clinic Classifieds.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Longstanding history of competitive endurance athletic performance defined as >15 years of continuous athletic training for at least 7 hours per week and ongoing engagement in competitive events.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • A current or prior diagnosis of cardiovascular disease as defined by the presence of structural heart disease, heart failure, symptomatic coronary artery disease, more than moderate valve disease or prior valve surgery,
  • Current or recent pregnancy within 1 year
  • Positive pregnancy test (study visit 1)
  • Concurrent or use within 1 year of oral contraceptives or hormone replacement therapy,
  • Unable to undergo a cMRI (Please refer standard clinical contraindications for MRI)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
Premenopausal Female Athletes
Diagnostic test: Stress Echocardiogram
Exercise testing via treadmill with simultaneous gas exchange analysis and pre- and post-exercise transthoracic echocardiography.
Diagnostic test: Cardiovascular Magnetic Imaging (cMRI)
Non-invasive imaging scan used to examine function and structure of the heart
Diagnostic test: Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Elastography (cMRE)
Non-invasive imaging scan used to measure myocardial stiffness
Postmenopausal Female Athletes
Diagnostic test: Stress Echocardiogram
Exercise testing via treadmill with simultaneous gas exchange analysis and pre- and post-exercise transthoracic echocardiography.
Diagnostic test: Cardiovascular Magnetic Imaging (cMRI)
Non-invasive imaging scan used to examine function and structure of the heart
Diagnostic test: Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Elastography (cMRE)
Non-invasive imaging scan used to measure myocardial stiffness
Male Athletes
Diagnostic test: Stress Echocardiogram
Exercise testing via treadmill with simultaneous gas exchange analysis and pre- and post-exercise transthoracic echocardiography.
Diagnostic test: Cardiovascular Magnetic Imaging (cMRI)
Non-invasive imaging scan used to examine function and structure of the heart
Diagnostic test: Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Elastography (cMRE)
Non-invasive imaging scan used to measure myocardial stiffness

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Myocardial stiffness
Time Frame: Day 14
Myocardial stiffness will be measured by magnetic resonance elastography (kPa)
Day 14

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Left ventricular filling pressures with exercise
Time Frame: Baseline
Left ventricular filling pressures with exercise will be measured by stress echocardiography
Baseline
Exercise capacity
Time Frame: Baseline
Exercise capacity will be measured by stress echocardiography
Baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Mayo Clinic

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Kathryn Larson, MD, Mayo Clinic

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Helpful Links

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

September 14, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

October 6, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

October 6, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 21, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 21, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

June 26, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

November 6, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 4, 2025

Last Verified

November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 24-001460

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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