[Hypotensive effect of 6-months cardiac rehabilitation in elderly patients]

Both effective treatment of arterial hypertension and prevention from its complications are considered very important issues, especially in a population of elderly people, in whom hypertension occurs along with other risk factors, resulting in increase of incidence of myocardial infarction and stroke.

There were assessed an influence of 6-month ambulatory cardiac rehabilitation on level of resting and peak systolic and diastolic arterial pressure in elderly patients with chronic ischemic heart disease (IHD) and arterial hypertension (AH), likewise relations between the pressure alterations and the age of the examined patients.

A group of 70 patients with IHD and AH treated invasively was subjected to a rehabilitation program. Group A consisted of 37 patients with the mean age of 69.0 +/- 0.5 years, and group B of 33 patients with the mean age of 51.5 +/- 0.5 years. The patients from the both groups differed significantly only as to the age, whereas they were comparable regarding current clinical status, echocardiographical parameters, BMI values and applied pharmacological treatment. During a follow-up period, neither drug regimen, established at least three months earlier, nor a diet were not modified. The all patients underwent a 6-month cardiac rehabilitation, combining exercises on cycle ergometers (3 times per week) and generally improving training (2 times per week). There were analyzed: the mean values of resting and of peak systolic and diastolic blood pressure at the beginning of the rehabilitation and upon completion of the program.

Comparison of the patients from groups A and B did not reveal any significant differences concerning the initial mean values of both resting and peak pressure (systolic and diastolic). Just after the rehabilitation finishing, in A group, a statistically significant reduction of resting systolic and diastolic pressure, likewise insignificant reduction of peak systolic and diastolic pressure were observed. Contrarily, in B group, it was noted a significant reduction of resting systolic and diastolic pressure and insignificant reduction of peak diastolic pressure. In this group, yet, an insignificant increase of peak systolic pressure was found. In the both groups, there was no statistically significant correlation between the age and the delta values of resting and peak systolic and diastolic pressure.

Long-term ambulatory cardiac rehabilitation caused a profitable blood pressure lowering in patients with IHD and AH, regardless of the age. A changes intensity of resting and of peak blood pressure did not show a dependence on the patients' age.