Serum and Salivary Amylase Variations During Exercise Testing in Athletes and Their Correlation with Cardiovascular Parameters—A Pilot Study

Background and Objectives: During intense bouts of physical activity, the body of athletes is subjected to stress and sometimes this can lead to adverse events such as injuries or more severe organ dysfunction, like sudden cardiac death. Several markers are being studied to properly assess the level of physical stress that exercises have on the body and one of them is amylase. Materials and Methods: We evaluated 19 licensed football players using basic cardiovascular procedures, i.e., resting 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) and trans-thoracic echocardiography (TTE) and performing a cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET). Resting (T0) serum and salivary amylase levels were measured, as were immediately post-effort (T1) serum values and 10 min (T2) and 30 min post-CPET (T3) salivary values. Results: Both serum and salivary levels showed correlations with several TTE and CPET parameters. Only T2 salivary amylase levels did not show any correlations with the other parameters, while also no correlations could be established between serum and salivary determinations. Conclusions: Serum and salivary amylase determinations show potential in athlete evaluation even from a cardiovascular risk standpoint since they displayed several correlations with both TTE and CPET parameters, but as part of a more complex protocol. Salivary determinations cannot fully substitute serum measurements. Further studies on larger groups are required.