Correspondence (letter to the editor): Biological Aging and Physical Performance

An active lifestyle can undoubtedly delay the aging process and minimize the loss of physical performance. However, doubts are indicated if performance analyses of 20–79 year old marathon runners are used as the basis for the claim that endurance performance is not subject to relevant deterioration before the age of 55 (1). It is nevertheless true that the mean oxygen intake drops less in middle age than at an older age (2). The authors contradict their own earlier findings, according to which mean marathon running times in the top 10 athletes of each decade of life increased significantly after the 35^th year of life (3)—this discrepancy was not commented on in the current article. The cohorts under comparison included leisure time athletes with marathon running times between 4 and 5 hours and different numbers of years in training, depending on their age. By contrast, among the world’s top 10 best marathon runners in 2009, none was aged 40 or older (mean age 28.1 years, range 22–37 years). Such a homogenous group reflects the age related physiological changes better because the aging of the organ systems becomes particularly obvious when the limits of people’s physical performance are reached. No reason therefore exists to rewrite the textbooks and place the onset of loss of physical performance, especially endurance performance, at an older age.

I agree with the authors that adaptations of the training and impressive achievements are possible at an older age. It was shown, for example, that comprehensive endurance training can lead to cardiac hypertrophy—that is, physiologic hypertrophy or “athlete’s heart”—even in older persons who had previously been physically inactive (4).