The exercise capacity of three socio-economic groups of elderly hypertensive patients

A third of all persons over the age of 65 suffer from hypertension. The incidence in South African blacks is particularly high. Exercise, although effective in lowering blood pressure, has not gained acceptance for its antihypertensive benefits. It would certainly be an inexpensive management option in community-based clinics in South Africa. In this paper, the exercise profiles of a group of elderly hypertensive patients are examined in three different socio-economic settings: a tertiary care hospital (Group 1); an urban community-based clinic (Group 2); and a rural clinic (Group 3). All the patients completed the six-minute walking test and the Duke Activity Status Index (Hlarky et al., 1984). All test values were expressed as means and standard deviations. A p value of < 0.05 was considered significant. Both resting and exercise pulse rates were higher at the urban clinic (p = 0.019). The blood pressure (BP) was higher in the urban clinic, but not significant so. The mean arterial pressure (MAP) of all three groups was high (115 mm HG). The distance covered in the six-minute walking test was surprisingly low at the urban and the rural clinic. Overall, in all three settings patients' hypertension was not well-controlled. The patients were not fit when compared to their age-predicted metabolic equivalent (MET) values. This lack of fitness may indicate that exercise programmes could be of value.