Acute Effect of High-Intensity Interval Versus Moderate-Intensity Continuous Exercise on Blood Pressure and Arterial Compliance in Middle-Aged and Older Hypertensive Women With Increased Arterial Stiffness.

Costa, EC, Kent, DE, Boreskie, KF, Hay, JL, Kehler, DS, Edye-Mazowita, A, Nugent, K, Papadopoulos, J, Stammers, AN, Oldfield, C, Arora, RC, Browne, RAV, and Duhamel, TA. Acute effect of high-intensity interval versus moderate-intensity continuous exercise on blood pressure and arterial compliance in middle-aged and older hypertensive women with increased arterial stiffness. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2020-Hypertension and arterial stiffness are common in middle-aged and older women. This study compared the acute effect of high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) and moderate-intensity continuous exercise (MICE) on blood pressure (BP) and arterial compliance in middle-aged and older hypertensive women with increased arterial stiffness. Nineteen women (67.6 +/- 4.7 years) participated in this randomized controlled crossover trial. Subjects completed a control, MICE (30 minutes at 50-55% of heart rate reserve [HRR]), and HIIE (10 x 1 minute at 80-85% of HRR, 2 minutes at 40-45% of HRR) session in random order. Blood pressure and large and small arterial compliance (radial artery pulse wave analysis) were measured at baseline and 30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes after sessions. A p 0.05). High-intensity interval exercise elicited a longer systolic postexercise hypotension than MICE compared with the control condition, despite the absence of acute modifications in large and small arterial compliance.