Ambulatory blood pressure after acute exercise in older men with essentialhypertension

We sought to determine whether reductions in blood pressure in hypertensive s after acute exercise persist for more than the 2 to 3 h found in controll ed laboratory settings. Subjects (n = 11) were obese (32 +/- 4% body fat), sedentary (VO2max 27 +/- 4 mL/kg/min) 60 +/- 6-year-old men with stage I or 2 essential hypertension. Ambulatory blood pressure was recorded on I day preceded by 45 min of 70% VO2max treadmill exercise and on another day not preceded by exercise. Systolic blood pressure was lower by 6 to 13 mm Hg fo r the first 16 h after exercise (P < .05) compared to the day without prior exercise. Twenty-four-hour, day, and night average systolic blood pressure s were significantly lower on the day after exercise. There was a trend for peak systolic blood pressure to be lower during the entire 24 h and the da y portion of the recording; peak systolic blood pressure was significantly lower during the night portion of the recording after exercise. Systolic bl ood pressure load (percent of systolic blood pressure readings >140 mm Hg) was reduced during the entire 24 h and the day portion of the recording aft er exercise. Diastolic blood pressure Tvas lower for 12 of the first 16 h a fter acute exercise (hours 0 to 4, 5 to 8, 13 to 16) (P < .05) compared to the day without prior exercise. Twenty-four-hour, day, and night average di astolic blood pressure was also significantly lower on the recording after exercise. Peak diastolic blood pressure was lower over the entire 24-h peri od. Diastolic blood pressure load (percent of diastolic blood pressure read ings >90 mm Hg) was lower during the entire 24 h and the day portion of the day after exercise. Preliminary data also suggest that common genetic poly morphisms at the angiotensinogen, lipoprotein lipase, and angiotensin conve rting enzyme loci may affect the blood pressure-lowering response after acu te exercise. Thus, in sedentary, obese hypertensive men a single aerobic ex ercise session reduced blood pressure enough to result in significantly low er 24-h average systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial blood pressure. This could result in a reduced cardiovascular load during the 24 h after acute exercise in older hypertensive men. (C) 2000 American Journal of Hypertensi on, Ltd.