Aging attenuates the interarm diastolic blood pressure difference induced by one-arm exercise

OBJECTIVES: It is known that one-arm exercise increases the interarm diastolic blood pressure difference (dIAD) in young individuals, but no research has been carried out in middle-aged and more senior populations. This study aimed to determine whether aging impacts the exercise-induced dIAD in healthy individuals. METHODS: Normotensive adults (n=120) were recruited and divided into the young (22.5±1.5 years), middle-aged (42.8±4.6 years), and senior (61.0±7.0 years) groups. The right arm exercise involved performing cycling movements at 60 times/min for 3 min. Bilateral brachial blood pressures (BPs) were simultaneously measured using two automatic BP measurement devices before (baseline), immediately (0), 5, 10, and 15 min after the exercise. The difference in bilateral diastolic BPs was calculated as BP l-r and its absolute value of at least 10 mmHg was considered as IAD. RESULTS: At baseline, the systolic blood pressure (SBP) l-r and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) l-r were similar in three age groups. One-arm exercise induced a marked decrease in DBP in the exercised arm, and then increased the prevalence of DBP l-r and dIAD in the three age groups in an age-dependent manner. The prevalence of dIAD increased from the baseline of zero to 85% at 0 min in young, 37% in middle-aged, and 30% in senior groups. One-arm exercise did not significantly alter the prevalence of SBP l-r and systolic IAD in the three groups. A reverse correlation was found between the DBP l-r 0 and ages (r=-0.359, P<0.05), but there was no correlation between aging and SBP l-r 0. CONCLUSION: Aging attenuates the levels and duration of the dIAD induced by one-arm exercise in healthy adults.