Acute effects of aerobic exercise on ambulatory blood pressure of institutionalized elderly: a pilot study

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2013

Authors

R. Mendes (Author) Other; N. Sousa (Author) Other; J. Sampaio (Author) Other; J. Oliveira (Author) FADEUP

Journal

Title: Gazzetta Medica Italiana Archivio per le Scienze Mediche

Vol. 172

Pages: 569-577

ISSN: 0393-3660

Publisher: EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge

Scopus - 1 Citation

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-008-EV0

Abstract (EN): Aim. This study aimed to determine the acute effect of a single session of aerobic exercise on ambulatory blood pressure in institutionalized and sedentary elderly. Methods. Eight elderly males, institutionalized and sedentary were selected to undergo two ambulatory blood pressure monitoring for a period of 8h. One of the monitoring was accomplished after a session of aerobic exercise and the other after a control session of rest. The aerobic exercise session was constituted by two periods of 10 minutes of walking on treadmill at moderate intensity (40% to 59% heart rate reserve). These two periods were interspersed with 5 minutes recovery, preceded by a 5-minute specific warm-up and followed by a cool down of 5 minutes, on a total of 35 minutes per session. Results. Significant differences were not found in the values of systolic blood pressure (118±10 vs. 119±13 mmHg), diastolic blood pressure (73±6 vs. 73±8 mmHg) and mean arterial pressure (88±6 vs. 88±9 mmHg) during the 8 hours of ambulatory recording between the two experimental conditions (control vs. exercise). The analysis of individual data revealed a great variability in ambulatory blood pressure response to an aerobic exercise session. Conclusion. The results of this study suggest that aerobic exercise can be safely applied in a group of institutionalized and sedentary elderly. However, a single session of exercise was not effective to induce a decrease in ambulatory blood pressure values of normotensive subjects. There seems to be an individual variability in ambulatory blood pressure response to a single bout of aerobic exercise.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 9