Effect of weight loss on central systolic blood pressure in elderly community-dwelling persons

Central blood pressure (BP) has been shown to strongly associate with cardiovascular disease and outcome. Recent studies have demonstrated a relationship between changes in body size by exercise training and peripheral BP; however, the effect on changes in central BP is unknown. The aim of this study was to assess whether changes in body size are independently related to changes in central BP in the elderly. The subjects were 11 men (mean age, 68 +/- 6 years) and 84 women (68 +/- 7 years) from a rural village. Before and at the end of the 12-week training program, metabolic variables, and first peak radial systolic BP (SBP1) and second peak radial SBP (SBP2) as estimates of central SBP, were obtained. Radial augmentation index (AI) was calculated as follows: ((SBP2 -diastolic BP (DBP))/(SBP1 -DBP)) x 100 (%) and we used AI corrected at heart rate 75 per min (AI@75). After the 12-week training program, weight loss correlated strongly with reduction in brachial mean arterial pressure (MAP), radial SBP1, SBP2 and AI@75. After adjusting for confounding factors, weight loss was significantly and independently associated with each reduction in brachial MAP (beta = 0.34, P = 0.001), radial SBP1 (beta = 0.31, P = 0.002), SBP2 (beta = 0.37, P < 0.001) and AI@75 (b = 0.36, P = 0.001). These findings suggest that weight loss by a 12-week training program may be an effective strategy to improve central BP parameters among Japanese elderly persons.