Effects of exercise intervention on arterial stiffness in middle-aged and older females: evaluation by measuring brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity and cardio-ankle vascular index.

The study included only 20 women, so the results are imprecise and may not apply to men, younger adults, or larger populations. The paper reports only pre and post measurements in the same participants, so it cannot show whether the changes were due to exercise alone. All participants were middle-aged and older women without exercise or smoking habits and not using oral contraceptives or hormone replacement therapy, so it says little about people with those habits or treatments. 11 participants had prehypertension or hypertension, and the paper notes baseline baPWV was higher than age-matched reference values while CAVI was lower, so the response may not apply to people with different starting values. Exercise was supervised twice per week, so the findings may not apply to unsupervised home exercise. The paper measures arterial stiffness indices, not cardiac or cerebrovascular disease.

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Do not conclude that aerobic exercise independently improves arterial stiffness. In this small study with only pre and post measurements, baPWV fell along with systolic blood pressure, while CAVI, the blood-pressure-independent measure, did not change.