Effects of exercise on hemodynamic parameters and cardiovascular humoral factors in the elderly patients with hypertension

Objective To study the effects of exercise on hemodynamic parameters and cardiovascular humoral factors in the elderly patients with hypertension. Methods The modified Bruce assessment (MBA) was employed in an essential hypertension (EH) group (group 1, n =34) composed by elderly EH patients and a control group (group 2, n =31) composed of normal subjects. Heart rate (HR),systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP、DBP), and the quantum and duration of exercise (QE, DE) were explored, while the serum concentrations of nitric oxide (NO), endothelin 1(ET1), atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) and AngiotensinⅡ(AngⅡ) were measured at 3 min before and after treatment. Results There were no significant differences between groups 1 and 2 with regard to HR, SBP, DBP, total DE and peak QE before and after treatment, in addition, at the peak of exercise ( P 0.05, respectively). After exercise, the concentrations of NO in groups 1 and 2 were significantly increased by 48.7% and 52.0%, respectively. Compared with that in group 2, the concentration of ANF in group1 was higher by 22.0% ( P =0.006) ; There were no significant differences between the concentrations of NO, ET1, AngⅡ and ANF before and after treatment in group 2 ( P 0.05). Pretreatment SBP and DBP were significantly and positively correlated with those at the peak of and after treatment ( r =0.648,0.630, P 0.001; r =0.359,0.520, P 0.001, respectively). QE was negatively correlated with age ( r =0.655, P 0.001). Conclusion The increase of HR, BP in elderly EH patients with drug therapies and low-grade exercise (8 MET) is similar to that of the healthy elderly. The changes of the concentration of NO may contribute to the alleviation of EH, and the changes of ET、AngⅡ and ANF were not obvious in short term.