EFFECTS OF A PHYSICAL ACTIVITY COUNSELING PROGRAM VERSUS A SINGLE SESSION OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY ADVICE ON AMBULATORY BLOOD PRESSURE, BODY COMPOSITION, AND CARDIOMETABOLIC RISK FACTORS IN MIDDLE-AGED HYPERTENSIVE INDIVIDUALS: A PILOT RANDOMIZED TRIAL
PALAVRAS-CHAVE: hypertension; ambulatory blood pressure monitoring; physical activity counseling
OBJECTIVE: To compare the effects of a physical activity (PA) counseling program versus a single structured session of PA advice on ambulatory blood pressure (BP), body composition, and cardiometabolic risk factors in middle-aged hypertensive individuals.
METHODS: Twenty-two middle-aged hypertensive individuals (♂ = 6, ♀ = 18) were randomly allocated into two groups: i) PA counseling program (n = 11, 49.6 ± 8.1 years, office BP 130.5 ± 14.3 / 78.6 ± 8.8 mmHg, body mass index [BMI] 33.0 ± 5.3 kg/m2) or ii) single structured session of PA advice (n = 11, 47.9 ± 6.7 years, office BP 130.8 ± 13.9 / 85.4 ± 10.0 mmHg, BMI 31.3 ± 5.1 kg/m2). The PA counseling group had six 60-minute bi-weekly meetings where they were counseled to perform PA according to weekly progressive goals related to frequency and duration. This intervention was based on the five “As” model (i.e., assess, advise, agree, assist, and arrange). The PA advice group had a single 60-minute structured session of PA advice. Before and after 12 weeks, PA level (pedometer for seven days), office BP, ambulatory BP (ambulatory BP monitoring, ABPM 24 h), body composition (DEXA), anthropometric measures (waist circumference [CC] and BMI), cardiometabolic risk factors (fasting glucose, total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, and triglycerides), markers of renal function (creatinine and urea), and markers of hepatic function (TGO, TGP, and GAMA GT). The intention-to-treat analysis was adopted and the mixed ANOVA followed by the Bonferroni post-test was applied to the outcomes. The results are expressed as mean and 95% confidence interval. A p-value <0,05 was considered statistically significant.
RESULTS: The PA counseling group increased the PA level (643.8 steps/day [13.3,1274.2] vs. -172.3 steps/day [-802.8,458.1]; p < 0.05), reduced office systolic BP (-7.3 mmHg [-14.2,-0.4] vs. -2.2 mmHg [-9.1,4.7]; p < 0.05), and increased HDL-cholesterol (10.5 mg/dL [3.7,17.3] vs. 5.4 mg/dL [-1.4,12.2]; p < 0.01). The PA advice group increased WC (1.8 cm [0.1,3.4] vs. -1.3 cm [-2.9,3.0]; p < 0.02), but decreased triglyceride levels (-37.2 mg/dL [-62.9,-11.5] vs. 17.1 mg/dL [-8.6,42.8]; p < 0.01). There were no changes in ambulatory BP, body composition, fasting glucose, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, markers of renal and hepatic function in any group after 12 weeks (p > 0.05).
CONCLUSION: Our preliminary findings show that despite the modest increments in PA level in middle-aged hypertensive individuals, the PA counseling program was not superior to a single structured session of PA advice to decrease ambulatory BP, improve body composition, and reduce cardiometabolic risk factors in this population.