ARTICOLI ORIGINALI   

Gazzetta Medica Italiana Archivio per le Scienze Mediche 2014 May;173(5):273-81

Copyright © 2014 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Relationship of exercise habits and cardiac events to resting blood pressure in middle-aged amateur marathoners

Kim Y. J. ¹, Lee Y. H. ², Park Y. ¹, Jee H. ³

¹ Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, College of Medicine, Sanggye-Paik Hospital, Inje University, Seoul, Korea; ² Department of Exercise Physiology, Korea National Sport University, Seoul, Korea; ³ Department of Health and Exercise Science, Namseoul University, Cheonan-si, Korea

AIM: Aim of the present study was to compare the occurrences of cardiac events and exercise habits in middle-aged amateur marathoners with different resting blood pressures (RBP).
METHODS: A total of 249 marathoners were recruited and divided into normal (NBP, n=84), prehypertensive (PHTN, n=78), or hypertensive (HTN, n=87) group by RBP. 249 healthy non-exercising subjects were selected for comparison. Cardiac events and exercise habits were assessed through a treadmill exercise test (GXT) and a questionnaire, respectively.
RESULTS: PHTN had a significantly higher maximal systolic blood pressure (SBPmax) compared to NBP. HTN had a significantly higher SBPmax than PHTN or NBP. HTN had a significantly higher maximal diastolic blood pressure (DBPmax) than NBP. Although statistically insignificant, noticeably high cases of clinically significant myocardial ischemia (2.0%) and arrhythmias (1.6%) were noted. Exercise habits which included exercise frequency, intensity, and time were significantly higher in HTN than in NBP or PHTN. Moreover, exercise frequency, intensity, and time were all significantly correlated with resting SBP. A significantly higher rate of cardiac events was shown between the normal and marathon groups.
CONCLUSION: Excessive exercise habits were shown to correlate with hypertension, and clinically significant cardiac events regardless of RBP in middle-aged marathoners. Therefore, routine monitoring of blood pressure and cardiac events through GXT is recommended.