Physical activity has been heavily studied because of its well-known effects on metabolic syndrome, insulin sensitivity, cardiovascular disease risk, and all-cause mortality.
However, data regarding the effects of exercise on short-time period and acute blood pressure response is not consistent, and lack of female data. So, this study investigated the effect of physical activity level on blood pressure (BP) response during exercise test and pulse wave velocity (PWV) in the middle-aged women.
The subjects were 50 middle-aged women. They were divided into five groups: low physical activity group(LPG, <600 METs-min/week), moderate physical activity group 1(MPG1, <900 METs-min/week), moderate physical activity group 2(MPG2, <1,200 METs-min/week), moderate physical activity group 3(MPG3, <1,500 METs-min/week) and vigorous physical activity group(VPG, 1,500 METs-min/week) according to the Internal Physical Activity Questionnaires(IPAQ).
All subjects were measured systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) 7 points: rest, warm-up, Bruce protocol stage 1 and 2, recovery 1, 2 and 3 min. There were significant interaction (p<.01) on SBP responses among 5 groups.
LPG showed significantly higher SBP increases at Bruce protocol stage 2 (p<.05), recovery 1 min (p<.01), 2 min (p<.001), and 3 min (p<.01) compared to MPG3 and VPG. Also, the magnitude of SBP increase from rest to the highest value was significantly higher (p<.001) in LPG than MPG2, MPG3 and VPG. However, there were no interaction on DBP responses and PWV among 5 groups.
Also, there were no differences in DBP changes among groups at each time point. The findings of current study indicate that low level of physical activity has an adverse effect on SBP responses during exercise in middle-aged women, suggesting that at least 1,200 METs-min/week of physical activity is recommended to decrease risks of cardiovascular disease in this population.