Key result
Home lower leg heat therapy fails to reduce ambulatory systolic blood pressure vs. sham.
Why the study?
Postmenopausal women with hypertension in the U.S. have relatively poor BP control despite conventional drug treatment, and heat therapy may be a promising adjuvant treatment to reduce BP.
Does home-based lower leg heat therapy reduce blood pressure in postmenopausal women with hypertension?
RCT (n=59)
Does home-based lower leg heat therapy reduce blood pressure in postmenopausal women with hypertension?
Absolute Event Rate: 2% vs 0%
p-value: p=≥0.412
Home-based lower leg heat therapy provides acute blood pressure reductions but fails to deliver sustained ambulatory blood pressure lowering in postmenopausal women with hypertension.
Captured external expert commentary on this paper, strongest first. Original sources are linked where available.
“We're trying to determine if lower leg heating, in combination with a drug treatment, may lower blood pressure more effectively than the drug treatment alone.”
“It's basically like providing a sauna for the legs. If this strategy works, it will provide a novel, safe, and easy way to improve blood pressure control in older women, a group for whom treatment of hypertension is often very challenging and hopefully reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke.”
“I think that heat therapy has a high potential to lower blood pressure in women who may be on several medications but are still unable to effectively control their blood pressure. Our trial is just rolling out, but our preliminary data suggests that it is very beneficial.”
Lower leg heat therapy lacks sustained BP benefit in hypertensive postmenopausal women; challenges prior hypotheses of long-term cardiovascular protection from passive heating.
Despite conventional drug treatment for hypertension, postmenopausal women in the U.S. maintain relatively poor blood pressure (BP) control rates. Alternatives, such as heat therapy, represent promising adjuvant treatments that may reduce BP. This study tested the hypothesis that 8-weeks of home-based, lower leg heating would induce acute BP reductions that may contribute to sustained BP lowering in postmenopausal women with hypertension. Fifty-nine participants completed a randomized trial to receive either a thermoneutral sham (i.e., sham; 35 °C; n=30, 69±5y) or heat therapy (42 °C; n=29, 69±5y). Participants completed 8-weeks of home-based, lower leg water immersion (≈4 sessions/week; 45 min/session). Acute BP responses were assessed pre-to-post immersion, while pre-to-post intervention BPs were assessed using 24-hour ambulatory monitoring. The average acute reductions in BP and increases in heart rate pre-to-post immersion were greater in heat therapy (sham, systolic: -2±4mmHg, diastolic: -2±2mmHg, heart rate: -3±3bpm; heat therapy, systolic: -6±6mmHg, diastolic: -5±3mmHg, heart rate: 5±4bpm; all P<0.01). However, these acute responses did not translate into significant reductions in ambulatory BP, whereby ΔBP did not differ between groups (sham, systolic: 0±8mmHg, diastolic: 1±5mmHg; heat therapy, systolic: 2±8mmHg, diastolic: 1±5mmHg; all P≥0.412). Our data demonstrate that 8-weeks of home-based lower leg heat therapy reduces BP acutely, but was not associated with a chronic BP lowering effect in postmenopausal women with hypertension. Therefore, these findings suggest that home-based lower leg heat therapy is insufficient to elicit sustained BP reductions, despite consistent acute BP reductions, in postmenopausal women with either treated or untreated, hypertension.
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Akins et al. (2026) conducted an RCT in hypertension (n=59). Home-based lower leg heat therapy vs. Thermoneutral sham (35 °C) was evaluated on Change in 24-hour ambulatory systolic blood pressure (p=≥0.412). Home-based lower leg heat therapy did not significantly reduce ambulatory systolic blood pressure compared to sham in postmenopausal women with hypertension (change of 2 vs 0 mmHg; P≥0.412).
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