Long-term physical activity is associated with reduced arterial stiffness in older adults: longitudinal results of the SAPALDIA cohort study

Abstract

keeping up or adopting a physically active lifestyle was associated with lower arterial stiffness in older adults after a follow-up of almost a decade. Increasing the proportion of older adults adhering to PA recommendations incorporating also vigorous PA may have a considerable impact on vascular health at older age and may contribute to healthy ageing in general.

Arterial stiffness is associated with depression in middle-aged men — the Maastricht Study

“…[41][42][43] Fourth, other factors, such as autonomic and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysfunction may underlie both arterial stiffness 44,45 and depression. 46,47 Finally, behavioural risk factors, such as high alcohol intake, smoking and physical inactivity, are bidirectionally associated with depression 3,[48][49][50] and may also lead to arterial stiffening, [51][52][53] thus confounding the association. However, in our study additional adjustments for alcohol use, smoking and physical activity did not materially alter the results.…”

Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, and Long‐Term Changes in Aortic Stiffness: The Whitehall II Study

“…Cross-sectional studies have shown inverse associations between physical activity and various measures of arterial stiffness among younger 17,[30][31][32] and older adults. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Considering lower exercise levels could in principle be the consequence of, rather than the risk factor for, greater aortic stiffness, interpretation of the findings of cross-sectional studies are ambiguous. Our longitudinal finding of slower PWV progression in the group that increased their physical activity over time is a novel and important mechanistic pointer.…”

“…5,6 Clinically, this pathology translates to functional limitation, 7 excess cardiovascular events, and premature mortality. 8 Arterial stiffness has been shown to be associated with low levels of physical activity [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] and sedentary behavior. 14,[17][18][19] However, previous studies are cross-sectional, include only 1 assessment of arterial stiffness, or are small, short-duration trials.…”

Defining lifelong exercise frequency and arterial stiffness changes in older adults: considerations for sex differences and exercise dose

“…Based on previous evidence, sex differences in response to long‐term habitual exercise training in older adults is inconsistent, reporting that older women experience similar responses relative to older men (Endes et al . ), or no effect on vascular structure and function (Pierce et al . ).…”

“…The importance of the current study findings cannot be understated, since large epidemiological studies have demonstrated that age-associated declines in vascular function and structure are associated with all-cause and cardiac-related mortality, although it is unknown if the benefits observed in this study are different between men and women. Based on previous evidence, sex differences in response to long-term habitual exercise training in older adults is inconsistent, reporting that older women experience similar responses relative to older men (Endes et al 2016), or no effect on vascular structure and function (Pierce et al 2011). This has been attributed largely to sex differences in vascular ageing, the loss of circulating oestrogen following menopause in women and differences in cardiopulmonary fitness.…”