PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AS A PRE-ANALYTICAL FACTOR AFFECTING LABORATORY TEST RESULTS

Abstract

It is known that physical activity undoubtedly exhibits positive effects, decreasing the incidence of many chronic diseases. But, at present, physical activity is consider a pre-analytical factor/error related to the sampling process. Namely, different types of physical activity as well as its different intensity may influence a broad array of laboratory variables. The amount of extracellular release and clearance from blood of most of these biomarkers is markedly influenced by the biological characteristics of the molecule(s), level of training, type, intensity and duration of exercise, and time of recovery after training. It is therefore noteworthy to have the anamnestic information about these specific characteristics of physical activity and to understand the "physiologic" effects of exercise on laboratory results and when the threshold to pathological effects has been crossed. There are a lot of research data about the influence of physical activity on laboratory test results, but the accessible results are scattered and inconsistent since variations in type, duration, and intensity of exercise, sample size, and biological, behavioral, and experimental variables are not always adequately controlled. In this study we put an effort to summarize the most often changes in laboratory results that occur as a result of physical activity and to explain these changes in accordance with their biochemical, physiological and metabolic features.