Twenty-four hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring to evaluate effects on blood pressure of physical activity in hypertensive patients.

OBJECTIVE: Elevated blood pressure is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease and stroke. Several studies have demonstrated that physical exercise reduces blood pressure levels in hypertensive subjects and improves control of several well-known risk factors for atherosclerosis such as diabetes mellitus, blood lipid profile and obesity. Our group attempted to evaluate if an exercise program based on periodic controlled fast walking sessions would reduce blood pressure levels in hypertensive subjects. DESIGN: We enrolled hypertensive subjects not suffering from obesity (Body Mass Index <30) already under pharmacological therapy; in these subjects we performed a six-week program of mobility exercise based on fast walking. SETTING: Secondary care. PATIENTS: We enrolled 189 subjects; 168 subjects completed the training period. Entry criteria were Stage I WHO hypertension in pharmacological treatment, BMI