Purpose: The effectiveness of lifestyle physical activity to reduce BP in prehypertension/hypertension is unclear. The purpose of this study was: 1) to investigate the magnitude and duration of ambulatory BP (AmBP) reduction after the accumulation of one day of lifestyle physical activity (PAaccum) in normotension, prehypertension, and hypertension; and 2) to determine the relationship between energy expenditure (EE) and BP reduction.
Methods: Subjects were eight normotensive (112.3/73.1 ± 1.6/1.9 mm Hg), 10 prehypertensive (124.3/79.3 ± 1.2/1.6 mm Hg), and 10 hypertensive (139.7/83.3 ± 3.7/3.7 mm Hg) adults. EE was analyzed during the PA and corresponding control (C) treatment; AmBP was analyzed for 12 h after the PAaccum and corresponding C. EE of the PA (EEPA) was calculated as the total EE for the duration of the PA. Steps to analyze and compare the BP reduction after PAaccum were: 1) determination of the duration of the BP reduction (95% CI), 2) determination of the magnitude of the BP reduction (paired t-tests of C vs PA), 3) determination of the area of the BP reduction, and 4) comparison of the areas (independent t-test) between prehypertension and hypertension. Correlation between EE(PA-C) and BP reduction was examined
Results: No BP differences were found for normotension or for DBP in any group. Significant difference in SBP after the PAaccum were found for prehypertensives (magnitude; area = 6.6 ± 2.3 mm Hg; 21.7 ± 15.2 mm Hg·h-1) for 6 h and for hypertensives (12.9 ± 4.3 mm Hg; 123.4 + 42.8 mm Hg·h-1) for 8 h; area was significantly different between groups. No correlation was found between EE(PA-C) and BP reduction.
Conclusion: The PAaccum reduces SBP in hypertension and prehypertension but does not appear to be related to the EE(PA-C). PAaccum can be utilized as an approach to treat prehypertension and hypertension.