Associations of cardiorespiratory fitness, physical activity, and BMI with arterial health in middle‐aged men and women

Abstract

We investigated the associations of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), physical activity (PA) with regard to aerobic and resistance training, and body mass index (BMI) with pulse wave velocity (PWV) and augmentation index (AIx) in middle‐aged adults with at least one cardiovascular risk factor. A total of 84 (46 men and 38 women) participated in the study. Cardiorespiratory fitness was measured using a maximal graded exercise test on a cycle ergometer and was defined as maximal power output (Wmax) normalized for body weight‐0.35. Participation in aerobic and resistance training was assessed by a detailed questionnaire and BMI was calculated as weight (kg)/[height (m2)]. Pulse wave velocity and AIx were measured using an applanation tonometry before (pre), immediately after (post), and after 10 min (post10) of maximal exercise test. Cardiorespiratory fitness, PA, or BMI was not associated with PWV or AIx. Pulse wave velocity decreased significantly from pre to post10 among those in the highest third of CRF (mean difference=−0.793 m/s, 95% CI = −1.494 to −0.091, p = .023) and in normal weight participants (p = .084 for time*group interaction mean difference=−0.781 m/s, 95% CI = −1.496 to −0.066, p = .029), but not among those in the other thirds of CRF or overweight or obese participants. Participants who had regular resistance training had continuously higher AIx from pre to post10 than those who had no regular resistance training (mean difference = −1.98, 95% CI = −4.02 to 0.069, p = .058). In conclusion, exercise may decrease PWV and AIx. Our results suggest that positive arterial responses to exercise could be slightly improved in fit and normal weight individuals.

Associations of cardiorespiratory fitness, body composition, and blood pressure with arterial stiffness in adolescent, young adult, and middle-aged women

“…Some evidence suggests that at least part of the age-related arterial stiffening in children 1 , 10 , adolescents 11 , 12 , and adults 13 – 16 could be prevented by maintaining high CRF, but the evidence is inconclusive 17 – 19 . Continuous use of CRF scaled by whole body mass (BM) in previous studies may have clouded the true associations between CRF and arterial stiffness because CRF scaled by BM introduces a confounding by adiposity 20 , 21 .…”

“…Continuous use of CRF scaled by whole body mass (BM) in previous studies may have clouded the true associations between CRF and arterial stiffness because CRF scaled by BM introduces a confounding by adiposity 20 , 21 . Accordingly, increased adiposity and accompanying hypertension have been associated with higher arterial stiffness in various age-groups 10 , 17 . Furthermore, a low amount of muscle mass has been associated with increased arterial stiffness in middle-aged and older adults 22 – 24 , but there are few studies in younger age-groups 25 .…”

Cardiorespiratory and metabolic fitness indicators in novice volleyball trainees: effect of 1-week antioxidant supplementation with N-acetyl-cysteine/zinc/vitamin C

“…Previous studies have shown negative correlations of CRF and physical activity with BMI and smoking. [42][43][44][45][46] However, although smoking and physical activity are largely incongruent behaviors, their relationship is often attenuated or reversed in male adolescents and for moderate (vs. vigorous) exercise. 47,48 This finding is consistent with our findings in young adult participants.…”

6-month aerobic walking training increases T1w/T2w signal in the white matter of healthy older adults

“…Subsequently, smaller improvements in CRF would be expected after months of training (3-12 months) (Erickson et al, 2011; Vidoni et al, 2015; Voss et al, 2018). Because our study sample was composed of healthy individuals, with relatively normal blood pressure values (Supplementary Material 3), it is possible that the associations between CRF and arterial health are stronger among individuals with hypertension or other chronic diseases (Haapala et al, 2020) and thus not observable in our healthy sample. Since vascular health is likely a key mechanism underlying the protective effects of aerobic exercise training on brain health, future studies are needed to further characterize individual differences that mediate or moderate the protective effects of aerobic exercise on the aging WM.…”