Premium
Effects of Life‐long Exercise Training on Aortic‐Age in the Elderly
Author(s) -
Shibata Shigeki,
Fu Qi,
Hastings Jeff,
Prasad Anand,
Conner Colin,
Shook Robin,
Palmer Dean,
Zhang Rong,
Levine Benjamin D
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.5.a572
Subject(s) - medicine , stroke volume , aorta , cardiology , arterial stiffness , athletes , stroke (engine) , physical therapy , endurance training , young adult , blood pressure , heart rate , mechanical engineering , engineering
The human aorta becomes stiffer with advancing age. However recent studies suggest that this process could be prevented or reversed with exercise training. We hypothesized that life‐long exercise training prevents arterial stiffness in senior athletes. Method: Sedentary young individuals (Young, n=12), the sedentary elderly (Old, n=12) and Masters athletes (Fit, n=11) were recruited. Eight of the sedentary elderly underwent one‐year of endurance exercise training. The Modelflow method was used to compute stroke volume from the arterial waveform with generalized age‐dependent aortic stiffness (Portapres, BeatScope). The relationship between the estimated stroke volume and age was determined to derive an index of “aortic age” from stroke volume measured directly from thermodilution (PA catheter). Result: Calculated aortic‐age of the Fit subjects was younger than their actual chronological age (40±16yrs vs. 68±3yrs, P<0.001), while it was comparable both in Old (73±11yrs vs. 70±9yrs, P=0.54) and in Young (27±7yrs vs. 30±13yrs, P=0.35). There was no significant change in aortic‐age after training in the elderly (pre: 72±8yrs vs. post: 76±4yrs, P=0.13). Conclusion: These findings suggest that life‐long exercise training leads to a more compliant aorta in the fit elderly while aortic compliance may not be restored with short‐term (1 year) training later in life. This work was supported by NSBRI and NIH.