Effect of 12-Weeks Interval Aerobic Training on Blood Pressure and Flow-Mediated Dilation in Middle-Aged Men with Hypertension

Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) in terms of blood pressure is impaired and it seems that exercise training can improve it. The present study intended to compare flow-mediated dilation in patients with hypertension and normotensive people and examine the effect of exercise on it.
In this semi-experimental study, 12 normotensive and 24 hypertensive middle-aged men (age: 49.66 ± 2.80 years, height: 174.16 ± 4.66 cm, weight: 81.08 ± 12.65 kg) were selected using convenience sampling method. Patients were randomly divided to equal groups; 12 for control (age: 52.08 ± 2.53 years, height: 173.75 ± 5.81 cm, weight: 80.08 ± 8.26 kg) and 12 for interval aerobic training (age: 50.50 ± 2.91 years, height: 173.4 ± 4.69 cm, weight: 85.2 ± 13.6 kg). The training included 12 weeks of treadmill interval aerobic running with 50 and 80% heart rate reserve for 2 and 1 minute, respectively, three times a week for totally 12 minutes each session. Each week, 3 minutes to 6th week and then, every two weeks, 3 minutes added to the training time. So that, training in the last two weeks was 36 minutes. Blood pressure and flow-mediated dilation were taken before and after the training period. The distribution normality of data was assessed using Shapiro-Wilk test.
Findings: Independent t-test showed that flow-mediated dilation was lower in patients than in normotensive subjects (t = 4.469, P It seems that, flow-mediated dilation in patients with hypertension is impaired and these patients can do aerobic interval training to relieve pressure and improve endothelial function.