EFFECT OF PHYSICL ACTIVITY ON SYSTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE IN ELDERLY HUMANS / 体力科学

ABSTRACT

Arterial compliance progressively decreases with aging. This aging-induced reduction of arterial compliance causes an increase of systolic blood pressure (SBP), whereas regular exercise increases arterial compliance. We hypothesized that an increase in daily physical activity (DPA) produces a beneficial effect on systemic arterial compliance (SAC ; an index of central arterial compliance) and this phenomenon could decrease SBP in the elderly. We investigated the relationship among DPA, SAC, SBP, diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and some other risk factors for cardiovascular and/or cerebrovascular events (total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, and HOMA-R) cross-sectionally in 127 elderly persons (42 male, 85 female : aged 74±4 years) . The DPA was estimated by expended calories using an accelerometer. The SAC was calculated from a finger pulse pressure waveform recorded by using PORTAPRES ; and stroke volume obtained from the same pressure waveform based on the volume-clump method. The analyses demonstrated that SBP was directly and decreasingly affected by SAC, and that DPA had an increasing effect on SAC. Furthermore, SBP was directly and increasingly affected by DBP, and DBP was directly and decreasingly affected by both SAC and DPA. Therefore, it is considered that DPA may have suppressive effects on the rise of SBP through the indirect effects of changing SAC and DBP. These findings suggest that an increase in DPA could improve the age-induced reduction of arterial compliance and rise of SBP in elderly humans.