Do marathon runners get more heart plaque?
Lifelong endurance exercise and its relation with coronary atherosclerosis
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Super fit guys who trained for decades have more plaque in their heart arteries than equally healthy non-athletes — but the plaque isn’t as dangerous.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 560 / 72
Evidence Score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Super fit guys who trained for decades have more plaque in their heart arteries than equally healthy non-athletes — but the plaque isn’t as dangerous.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 560 / 72
Evidence Score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Publication
Authors
De Bosscher R, Dausin C, Claus P, Bogaert J, Dymarkowski S, Goetschalckx K, Ghekiere O, Van De Heyning CM, Van Herck P, Paelinck B, Addouli HE, La Gerche A, Herbots L, Willems R, Heidbuchel H, Claessen G
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Claims (9)
Even though endurance athletes have more fatty deposits in the main heart arteries—especially the soft, unstable kind—they don’t have the dangerous features that usually make plaques burst and cause heart attacks.
Endurance athletes have more heart arteries blocked by plaque than healthy non-athletes—even when both groups are fit and have normal cholesterol—meaning their arteries are affected in more places.
High-intensity endurance exercise, when accumulated over long durations, is associated with a significantly increased prevalence of coronary artery plaque, an association not detected using self-reported exercise metrics.
Endurance athletes have more heart arteries affected by plaque buildup than healthy non-athletes—even when both groups have the same cholesterol and blood pressure levels.
Even though athletes are super fit, their heart plaques aren’t more stable or ‘safer’ than those of healthy non-athletes—so being an elite athlete doesn’t make plaque less dangerous.