Does high-intensity interval exercise compared to moderate-intensity continuous training improve flow-mediated dilation and arterial stiffness in hypertensive patients?
In hypertensive patients, moderate-intensity continuous training is more effective than high-intensity interval training for acutely reducing arterial stiffness.
) after a 1-week washout (no exercise). Measurements were taken at baseline, immediately postexercise, 5 min post-exercise, and 24 h post-exercise. The primary outcome was flow-mediated dilation (FMD), with secondary outcomes including the arterial basal internal diameter, peak diameter, systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), pulse pressure (PP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), wall shear stress, brachial‒ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), and the ankle‒brachial index (ABI). A total of 30 hypertensive participants (16 males, 14 females; mean age 54 ± 4 years) were included. Significant intervention-specific effects were observed: MICT acutely increased both the arterial basal diameter (4.58 to 4.84 mm, P = 0.036) and peak diameter (4.77 to 5.05 mm, P = 0.025), whereas HIIT induced no significant changes. HIIT provoked a greater immediate increase in SBP (159 ± 9 vs 156 ± 9 mmHg; P 0.05). No differential effects were found for wall shear stress, FMD or ABI (P > 0.05) between HIIT and MICT. Both types of exercise led to an immediate increase in SBP postexercise, but MICT decreased at 5 min. MICT was more effective in reducing arterial stiffness and improving vasodilation, with its impact on arterial stiffness lasting up to 24 h. The acute reduction in vascular stiffness following MICT may prioritize its use for hypertensive patients requiring immediate hemodynamic stabilization.
Feng et al. (Thu,) studied this question.