Abstract
Central (or abdominal) body fat distribution has been shown to be related to cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk to a greater extent than overall body fat. Cardiorespiratory fitness is known to be protective against the development of CVD. We tested the hypothesis that, among individuals with waist circumference in the high risk category (≥ 40 inches in males, ≥ 32 inches in females), systolic, diastolic, mean arterial, and pulse pressure would be lower in those with higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness. Waist circumference and cardiorespiratory fitness were assessed at East Carolina University from 1982 to the present. High-fit subjects were defined as those in the upper 30% of each gender, based on maximal treadmill exercise test, and low-fit subjects as those in the lower 30%. There are currently 4017 persons in the data set with average age 40 years (17–79 years), 79% male and 21% female. Our final analysis included 368 males and 135 females. Subjects who smoked or who were taking blood pressure medications were eliminated from the analysis and age was statistically controlled. Systolic (high-fit: 122 mmHg (95% CI = 117, 127) vs. low-fit: 129 mmHg (95% CI = 128, 131), diastolic (high-fit: 77 mmHg (95% CI = 74, 81) vs. low-fit: 86 mmHg (95% CI = 85, 87)) and mean arterial (high-fit: 92 mmHg (95% CI = 89, 96) vs. low-fit: 100 mmHg (95% CI = 99, 101)) blood pressure were significantly lower in males with high vs. low cardiorespiratory fitness despite similar levels of waist circumference. In addition, females with similar waist circumference showed significant differences between fitness groups for diastolic (high-fit: 74 mmHg (95% CI = 71, 78) vs. low-fit: 80 mmHg (95% CI = 78, 82)) and mean arterial blood pressure (high-fit: 89 mmHg (95% CI = 85, 93) vs. low-fit: 95 mmHg (95% CI = 93, 97)). Pulse pressure was not significantly different between fitness groups in either males or females. These results suggest cardiorespiratory fitness exerts a favorable influence on arterial blood pressure even in persons with high-risk body fat distribution phenotypes.
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