Objective: The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship of plasma levels of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) to physiological parameters and cardiac morphological characteristics in a population of young athletes. Our hypothesis is that physiological and cardiac morphological characteristics do not predict BNP levels in adolescent athletes.

Design: Observational study

Setting: Outpatient hospital Patients: 30 healthy male adolescent high school football players (16.0 +/- 1.1 yrs)

Interventions: Physical exam, electrocardiography, plasma BNP measurement by rapid fluorescent immunoassay, and limited echocardiography

Main Outcome Measure 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•mlˉ¹. There was no correlation between BNP and mean arterial pressure (r = -0.09, p = 0.64), BMI (r = 0.11, p = 0.57), interventricular septal thickness (r = -0.15, p = 0.44), left ventricular wall thickness (r = 0.00, p = 0.99), relative wall thickness (r = -0.04, p = 0.84), left ventricular mass (r = 0.05, p = 0.79), or left ventricular mass index (r = 0.11, p = 0.55).

Conclusion: Plasma BNP levels in healthy adolescent athletes have no correlation to BMI or LV mass, even when corrected for body surface area.