Effect of Exercise on Cardiovascular Ageing

Ageing of the cardiovascular system presents several costly public health problems, loss of quality of life, dependency, and other various health hazards. Large declines of 0-24% per decade in cardiovascular function have been cited in the literature but no long-term longitudinal studies have been reported. Serially measured cardiovascular function was performed on 12 normal men, aged 44-79 years, at 0, 10, 15, 20 and 25 years. Over the same time period, daily exercise training data were reported monthly including mode, frequency, intensity, and duration. Although seven men developed some form of pathological disease, the total group's cardiovascular function remained 60% greater than the average of ten investigations. The overall decline in cardiovascular function (Vo2 max) was 13%, or 5% per decade, 45.4 ml.min-1.kg-1 to 39.5 ml.min-1.kg-1. In summary, cardiovascular function was one-half, or 0.24 ml.min-1.kg-1.year-1 of the 0.45 ml.min-1.kg-1.year-1 reported to be the average decline for ageing cited in the literature.