Key result
Regular tennis exercise was associated with significantly better vascular endothelial function (FMD 10.55% vs 8.69%, p<0.01) in postmenopausal women compared to those who merely met physical activity guidelines.
Why the study?
Tennis reduces cardiovascular mortality, but its specific influence on impaired vascular endothelial function compared with standard recommended physical activity was unknown.
Does regular tennis participation improve vascular endothelial function in healthy postmenopausal women compared to regular exercise?
Cross-Sectional (n=38)
No
Does regular tennis participation improve vascular endothelial function in healthy postmenopausal women compared to regular exercise?
Regular tennis exercise may protect vascular endothelial function better than merely meeting standard physical activity guidelines in postmenopausal women.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Regular tennis participation was associated with better endothelial function in postmenopausal women; leaves open benefits beyond guideline activity and requires prospective trials.
Physical inactivity plays a role in the incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Although the current guidelines for physical activity, such as the prescription of exercise, seek to combat CVD, attaining the recommended targets remains challenging. Tennis exercise has been proven to have a unique advantage in reducing the mortality of CVD, but little is known about the influence of playing tennis on impaired vascular endothelial function (VEF), which initiates CVD. Thus, this study aimed to investigate whether regular tennis participation could protect the VEF better than merely meeting the physical activity recommended by the current guidelines. A cross-sectional design was performed based on a sample of 38 healthy postmenopausal women who were matched for physical activity, of which 17 subjects had long-term tennis experience and 21 age-matched subjects regularly exercised but did not play tennis. The cardiovascular function and the body composition of all subjects were measured. We used cluster analysis to assess the overall health status. The modeling results showed that the tennis players performed better in terms of VEF than the nonplayers (10.55 ± 0.58 vs. 8.69 ± 0.52, p < 0.01, R2ad = 0.367), while the wall shear stress positively correlated with VEF (r = 0.505, p < 0.05), after controlling for age and physical activity levels. Regular tennis exercise may be a protective factor for VEF, and further study should be performed to research the role of hemodynamics in tennis exercise.
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Pan et al. (2022) conducted a cross-sectional in Healthy postmenopausal women (n=38). Regular tennis exercise vs. Regular exercise (nonplayers meeting physical activity guidelines) was evaluated on Vascular endothelial function (Flow-mediated dilation, FMD) (p=<0.01). Regular tennis exercise was associated with significantly better vascular endothelial function (FMD 10.55% vs 8.69%, p<0.01) in postmenopausal women compared to those who merely met physical activity guidelines.
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