Abstract-Many antihypertensive medications and lifestyle changes are proven to reduce blood pressure. Over the past few decades, numerous additional modalities have been evaluated in regard to their potential blood pressure-lowering abilities. However, these nondietary, nondrug treatments, collectively called alternative approaches, have generally undergone fewer and less rigorous trials. This American Heart Association scientific statement aims to summarize the blood pressure-lowering efficacy of several alternative approaches and to provide a class of recommendation for their implementation in clinical practice based on the available level of evidence from the published literature. The American Heart Association makes every effort to avoid any actual or potential conflicts of interest that may arise as a result of an outside relationship or a personal, professional, or business interest of a member of the writing panel. Specifically, all members of the writing group are required to complete and submit a Disclosure Questionnaire showing all such relationships that might be perceived as real or potential conflicts of interest. Expert peer review of AHA Scientific Statements is conducted by the AHA Office of Science Operations. For more on AHA statements and guidelines development, visit http://my.americanheart.org/statements and select the "Policies and Development" link.

Findings suggest that the cognitive benefits of both light-intensity PA and moderate/vigorous PA may be domain-specific.

The accumulation of LPA reduced cuff, ambulatory, and pressure load. The accumulation of LPA appears well tolerated and feasible in this sample of young African-American women, demonstrated by the overall high adherence rates. Given the excess burden of pressure-related clinical sequelae among African Americans and the strong correlation between pressure load and target organ damage, LPA may represent a practical and effective strategy in this population.

Background-Little emphasis has been placed on behavioral interventions addressing caregivers' (CGs) physical health. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the effects of lifestyle physical activity in CGs of persons with Alzheimer's disease.

These findings suggest PA interventions should be targeted toward older Latinos, taking into account gender and age.

No abstract

African American women have a high prevalence of hypertension and low level of physical activity compared with their counterparts. A sedentary lifestyle contributes to the development of hypertension, as well as other cardiovascular diseases, especially among African American women. Healthy People 2010 initiatives underscore the priority of reducing minority health disparities. To reduce health disparities, there has been recent emphasis on recruiting and retaining minority populations in clinical research studies. However, little information is available to guide researchers in the evaluation of impediments in successful recruitment and retention of young African American women. A first step is for researchers to report information concerning the efficacy of recruiting/retaining methods in order to facilitate minority participation in clinical trials and, ultimately, reduce health disparities. This report summarizes existing recruitment and retention methods from the literature, and describes how effective these strategies were in recruiting and retaining young, mildly hypertensive African American women to a physical activity intervention study. Multiple strategies, resources, and time were necessary to recruit and retain these women for the study. Among women enrolled, newspaper advertisements and flyers were the most effective recruiting strategies implemented (46% and 21%, respectively). Study retention was high (96%), which may have resulted from flexible scheduling, frequent contact, and a caring environment. Recruiting and retaining efforts need to be tailored to meet the needs of the target population.

Online-related strategies are convenient and have great potential for reaching large numbers of people. However, the actual rate of participants successfully enrolled online was proportionally smaller when compared with traditional recruiting strategies.