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Effect of cardiorespiratory fitness on acute inflammation induced increases in arterial stiffness in older adults

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Abstract

We tested the hypothesis that acute inflammation may cause arterial stiffening in older adults. We further explored if high cardiorespiratory fitness may partially prevent the unfavorable effect of arterial stiffening produced by acute systemic inflammation in older adults. Using a randomized double-blind sham placebo-controlled design, forty healthy older adults were assigned to receive either an influenza vaccine or a sham vaccine. C-reactive protein and interleukin 6 (IL-6) were measured as markers of inflammation. Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) and augmentation index (AIX) as indices of arterial stiffness and wave reflection were assessed at baseline and 24 and 48 h after each vaccination. When compared with sham placebo, the influenza vaccination caused a significant increase in CRP (p < 0.05) and IL-6 (p < 0.05). Carotid-femoral PWV, but not AIX was significantly increased after influenza vaccination (p < 0.05), but not sham vaccination. The high cardiorespiratory fitness group had an attenuated increase in PWV as compared to the low cardiorespiratory fitness group after acute inflammation (p < 0.05). These findings show that acute inflammation may cause significant increases in arterial stiffness in older adults, but these increases were attenuated in the high cardiorespiratory fitness group as compared to the low cardiorespiratory fitness group.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Korea Research Foundation Grant funded by the Korean Government (KRF-2009-32A-G00050).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Health and Integrative Physiology Laboratory, Department of Sports Informatics, University of Seoul, 90 Jeonnong-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 130-743, South Korea

    Sae Young Jae, Eun Sun Yoon, Soo Jin Jung, Sol Gi Jung & Soo Hyun Park

  2. Department of Family Medicine, Kyung Hee University School of Medicine, Seoul, 130-701, South Korea

    Byung Sung Kim

  3. Department of Exercise Science, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 13244, USA

    Kevin S. Heffernan

  4. Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition, University of Illinois, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA

    Bo Fernhall

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  1. Sae Young Jae
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  2. Eun Sun Yoon
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Correspondence to Sae Young Jae.

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Communicated by Fabio Fischetti.

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Jae, S.Y., Yoon, E.S., Jung, S.J. et al. Effect of cardiorespiratory fitness on acute inflammation induced increases in arterial stiffness in older adults. Eur J Appl Physiol 113, 2159–2166 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-013-2648-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-013-2648-1

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