 Influence of ethnicity in cardiac remodeling and pilot data Racial differences in cardiac remodeling have previously been described with respect to cardiac hypertrophy. Athletes develop physiological increases in LV wall thickness and cavity size in an adaptive response to high cardiac preload and afterload. This response is exaggerated in black athletes. For the purposes of this study, black ethnicity will be defined as a person of African or African-Caribbean origin. In a study comparing highly trained male athletes, 18 of black athletes exhibited left ventricular hypertrophy LVH, as defined as an LV wall thickness of 12mm, compared with only 4 of white athletes p0.00113. 