Walking Training Improves Ambulatory Blood Pressure Variability in Claudication

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Medicine
• Exercise Physiology
• Vascular Health

Background:

• Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is characterized by impaired walking capacity and often associated with hypertension.
• While supervised walking training (WT) improves walking capacity and clinic blood pressure (BP) in PAD patients, its impact on ambulatory BP and its variability remains under-investigated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the effect of a 12-week walking training (WT) program on 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure (BP) levels and BP variability in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD).

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial involving 35 male PAD patients with claudication symptoms.
• Participants were assigned to either a control group (stretching) or a walking training (WT) group for 12 weeks.
• 24-hour ambulatory BP and BP variability indices (SD24, SDdn, ARV24) were assessed before and after the intervention.

Main Results:

• Walking training (WT) did not significantly alter 24-hour, awake, or asleep blood pressure (BP) levels in PAD patients.
• WT significantly decreased systolic and mean BP variability, specifically the standard deviation (SD24), awake and asleep weighted standard deviation (SDdn), and average real variability (ARV24).
• No significant changes in diastolic BP variability were observed in either group.

Conclusions:

• Twelve weeks of walking training (WT) effectively reduces ambulatory blood pressure (BP) variability in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD).
• While not affecting BP levels, the reduction in BP variability may contribute to a more favorable cardiovascular risk profile for individuals with symptomatic PAD.