Effects of the Intensity of Lifestyle Exercise on Changes in Blood Pressure.
Carolyn Harmon Still, Shirley M Moore, Abdus Sattar
PMID 33106116WHAT IT FOUND
In older adults after a cardiac event, spending less time exercising at target heart rate zone was associated with a greater rise in systolic blood pressure over a year.
No such link was found for diastolic pressure, and average blood pressure rose.
Key findings
01Systolic and diastolic blood pressure increased by 4.80 mmHg and 2.12 mmHg from baseline to one year.
02More time spent exercising in the target heart rate zone was associated with a smaller increase in systolic blood pressure.
03Time spent exercising in the target heart rate zone was not significantly associated with diastolic blood pressure.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
This was a secondary analysis of an existing randomized trial, not a randomized test of whether increasing target heart-rate-zone exercise lowers blood pressure. Only 331 of 379 enrolled participants had complete blood pressure data, so results depend on that subset. The sample was mostly White males attending cardiac rehabilitation, so findings may not apply to women or racial and ethnic minorities. Most participants had lower baseline blood pressure and 84% were prescribed a beta-blocker, which can blunt heart-rate response to exercise and complicate interpretation of target-zone time. The paper did not formally test differences between beta-blocker and non-beta-blocker users. Unmeasured factors such as stress, depression, self-regulation, and other beliefs could have influenced exercise and blood pressure. Exercise and blood pressure were measured over one year, and average blood pressure increased, so the study does not show that lifestyle exercise prevented blood pressure rise.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest. The supplied publication types list NIH extramural research support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that exercising more in the target heart-rate zone is proven to lower blood pressure after a cardiac event. This was a secondary analysis, average blood pressure rose over one year, and the target-zone association was only for systolic blood pressure.