Abstract
Introduction:Arterial stiffness (AST) is a main determinant of cardiovascular (CV) mortality. Long-term physical activity (PA) is considered to decrease age-related progression of AST but effects of short-term exercise interventions on AST remain unclear.Methods:In a combined cross-sectional and interventional study approach, we investigated the effects of long-term PA and short-term high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on AST in an older population. 147 older individuals (mean age 59 ± 7 years) were assigned to three groups according to their PA and CV risk profile and compared: healthy active (HA, n = 35), healthy sedentary (HS, n = 33) and sedentary at risk (SR, n = 79). In addition, SR were randomized to either 12 weeks of HIIT or standard recommendations. Pulse wave velocity (PWV) was measured by applanation tonometry. Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) was performed by symptom-limited spiroergometry to determine maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max).Results:Higher CRF was associated with lower PWV (p < 0.001) and VO2max explained 18% of PWV variance. PWV was higher in SR (8.2 ± 1.4 m/s) compared to HS (7.5 ± 1.6 m/s) and HA (7.0 ± 1.1 m/s; p < 0.001). 12 weeks of HIIT did not change PWV in SR. HIIT-induced reduction in systolic BP was associated with a reduction in PWV (p < 0.05).Discussion:SR show higher PWV compared to HS and long-term PA is associated with lower PWV. Reduction of AST following short-term HIIT seems to depend on a concomitant decrease in blood pressure. Our study puts into perspective the effects of long- and short-term exercise on arterial wall integrity as treatment options for CV prevention in an older population.Clinical Trial Registration:ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02796976 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02796976).
Highlights
Arterial stiffness (AST) is a main determinant of cardiovascular (CV) mortality
For the interventional part of the study, we assumed that the expected difference in central pulse wave velocity (PWV) after 12 weeks between sedentary individuals with increased CV risk (SR) in the intervention and those in the control group is 1.0 m/s and that the standard deviation is 1.5 m/s (Madden et al, 2009)
PWV was higher in SR compared to healthy sedentary (HS)
Summary
Arterial stiffness (AST) is a main determinant of cardiovascular (CV) mortality. Cardiovascular diseases are responsible for the majority of deaths in western countries and age has been identified as a main risk factor (Piepoli et al, 2016; World Health Organization [WHO], 2018). Vascular tissue biomarkers such as AST provide a means of optimized risk assessment to detect individual subclinical organ damage. Altered PWV indicates subclinical target organ damage and may be used to quantify cumulative damaging effects of CV risk factors on the aging arterial wall integrity. HIIT is an exercise modality that has attracted attention for its potency to increase CRF and reduce CV risk in patients, for example, with metabolic syndrom (Tjonna et al, 2008)
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