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Exercise and the heart: the good, the bad, and the ugly
Sharma S, Merghani A, Mont L.. European heart journal, 2015-04-02
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
The benefits of exercise are irrefutable. Individuals engaging in regular exercise have a favourable cardiovascular risk profile for coronary artery disease and reduce their risk of myocardial infarction by 50%. Exercise promotes longevity of life, reduces the risk of some malignancies, retards the onset of dementia, and is as considered an antidepressant. Most of these benefits are attributable to moderate exercise, whereas athletes perform way beyond the recommended levels of physical activity and constantly push back the frontiers of human endurance. The cardiovascular adaptation for generating a large and sustained increase in cardiac output during prolonged exercise includes a 10-20% increase in cardiac dimensions. In rare instances, these physiological increases in cardiac size overlap with morphologically mild expressions of the primary cardiomyopathies and resolving the diagnostic dilemma can be challenging. Intense exercise may infrequently trigger arrhythmogenic sudden cardiac death in an athlete harbouring asymptomatic cardiac disease. In parallel with the extraordinary athletic milieu of physical performances previously considered unachievable, there is emerging data indicating that long-standing vigorous exercise may be associated with adverse electrical and structural remodelling in otherwise normal hearts. Finally, in the current era of celebrity athletes and lucrative sport contracts, several athletes have succumbed to using performance enhancing agents for success which are detrimental to cardiac health. This article discusses the issues abovementioned, which can be broadly classified as the good, bad, and ugly aspects of sports cardiology.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Sharma, S., Merghani, A., & Mont, L. (2015). Exercise and the heart: the good, the bad, and the ugly. European heart journal. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehv090
Vancouver
Sharma S, Merghani A, Mont L. Exercise and the heart: the good, the bad, and the ugly. European heart journal. 2015. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehv090. PMID: 25839670.
BibTeX
@article{sharma2015-25839670,
author = {Sharma, S. and Merghani, A. and Mont, L.},
title = {{Exercise and the heart: the good, the bad, and the ugly}},
journal = {European heart journal},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.1093/eurheartj/ehv090},
pmid = {25839670},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehv090}
}
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
Key findings
- In parallel with the extraordinary athletic milieu of physical performances previously considered unachievable, there is emerging data indicating that long-standing vigorous exercise may be associated with adverse electrical and structural remodelling in otherwise normal hearts.
Why it matters
This review states that exercise retards the onset of dementia among its many benefits, but it also reports emerging data that long-standing vigorous exercise may be associated with adverse electrical and structural remodeling in otherwise normal hearts. It does not test exercise as a dementia treatment or prevention in a trial.
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Study details
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 48/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (European heart journal) |
| Journal's citation record | 3 / 4 | European Heart Journal: journal h-index 456 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2015 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 0 / 4 | Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 0 / 3 | Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Randomized / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 6 / 7 | Cited 396 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 4 / 5 | 30.5 citations a year over 13 year(s) since 2015 |
| Impact for its field and year | 5 / 6 | Cited 21.1× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 3 / 4 | Cited 95 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 4 / 4 | Last-listed author Lluı́s Mont: h-index 100 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | Universitat de Barcelona: institution h-index 1,049 (OpenAlex) |
| Multicenter collaboration | 1 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 2 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 25839670) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 48 / 100 | — |
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