Physical Activity and Incidence of Hypertension in College Alumni

Abstract

In a study population of 14,998 Harvard male alumni, 681 hypertensives were first diagnosed during a 6-10-year follow-up beginning 16-50 years after college entrance. The study comprised 105,662 man-years of observation of these men who had entered college in 1916-1950, and who were followed from 1962 or 1966 to 1972. Presence or absence of a background of collegiate sports did not influence risk of hypertension in this study population, nor did stair-climbing, walking, or light sports play by alumni. But, alumni who did not engage in vigorous sports play were at 35% greater risk of hypertension than those who did, and this relationship held at all ages, 35-74 years. Higher levels of body mass index, weight gain since college, history of parental hypertension, and lack of strenuous exercise independently predicted increased risk of hypertension in alumni. Men 20% or more over ideal weight-for-height were at 78% greater risk than lighter men. Those who had gained 25+ lbs (c. 11.5+ kg) since entering college were at 60% greater risk than those who had gained less. Alumni with a hypertensive parent were at 83% higher risk than men without such parentage. Contemporary vigorous exercise was inversely related to hypertension risk, but chiefly among alumni overweight-for-height. In the clinical sense, attributable risk estimates ranged from 30% to nearly 50% for the alumni characteristics of overweight, weight gain, parental hypertension, and lack of vigorous exercise. In the community sense, attributable risk of these same characteristics ranged 13-26%. To sum up, vigorous exercise is associated with lower hypertension incidence, and, without necessarily altering body weight-for-height, avoids or reduces fat and promotes muscle; obesity, rather than excess weight-for-height, is associated with higher hypertension incidence; hence, vigorous exercise is appropriate for use as an intervention regimen in the prevention of hypertension.

Continuous and Accumulated Bouts of Cycling Matched by Intensity and Energy Expenditure Elicit Similar Acute Blood Pressure Reductions in Prehypertensive Men

“…Paffenbarger et al (31), for example, showed that among 14,998 Harvard male alumni that initially presented without hypertension in 1962 or 1966, 681 (5%) developed hypertension by 1972, with those not engaging in vigorous sporting activities at 35% greater risk of developing hypertension than those who did. Regular physical exercise, especially aerobic exercise, has therefore often been recommended for the prevention, treatment, and control of hypertension (36,41).…”

Controlled trial of aerobic exercise in hypertension.

“…[1][2][3][4] In the past three decades, a number of studies have reported blood pressure (BP) reductions in hypertensives undergoing a regular program of aerobic exercise.5-31 Consequently, various reviews32-35 and the Joint National Committee on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure36 have concluded that exercise can be beneficial in the management of hypertension but that more studies are needed because there is still a paucity of adequately controlled randomized studies. Importantly, few of the studies conducted to date used a control group of hypertensives, and none used a credible attention control or placebo treatment control group of hypertensive subjects.…”

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“…There are several studies realized on children and adolescents in which has been studied the relation between blood pressure and cardiorespiratory fitness (Paffenbarger et al 1983;Hansen et al, 1991). Hansen et al explored the impact of the aerobic training on blood pressure for obese children (Hansen et al, 1991).…”

“…Biological risk factors for the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases track from childhood and adolescence into adulthood (Andersen 1996;Twisk et al, 1997). The low level of fitness is associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure for middle-aged men and women (Paffenbarger et al 1983;Blair et al, 1984). But there are many fewer researches which explain the etiological relationship between fitness and blood pressure for children and adolescents (Hagberg et al, 1983;Hagberg et al, 1994;Fraser et al, 1983).…”