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Yearlong physical activity and regional stiffness of arteries in older adults: the Nakanojo Study

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Abstract

Our objectives were to test the hypothesis that the habitual physical activity of elderly individuals is associated with less arterial stiffening, to explore characteristics of any dose/response relationship, and to determine those segments of the arterial tree where associations are most apparent. Participants (89 men and 109 women, aged 65–84) wore a pedometer/accelerometer continuously for 1 year. The daily step count and the duration of moderate-intensity activity (>3 metabolic equivalents, METs) were recorded. At year’s end, an automatic waveform analyzer determined the pulse wave velocity between five recording sites: the aortic root, and the carotid, brachial, femoral and tibial arteries. After appropriate adjustments for sex, age, and mean arterial pressure, overall (delta brachio-tibial “velocity”) and central arterial stiffness (cardio-femoral velocity) showed small but statistically significant negative correlations with daily step count and the duration of activity >3 METs. Cardio-carotid velocity was also associated with step count. In contrast, cardio-brachial and femoro-tibial velocities were not significantly related to either estimate of habitual activity. Cardio-femoral and delta brachio-tibial velocities were significantly lower in physically active individuals, apparently reaching a minimum in subjects who exceeded counts of about 6,600 steps/day and/or exercised for more than 16 min/day at an intensity >3 METs. The data support our hypothesis, showing weak but statistically significant associations between habitual physical activity and pulse wave assessments of arterial stiffness in elderly adults. Further studies are recommended to test the causality of these associations and to explore why relationships seem more marked for central than for peripheral arterial segments.

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Acknowledgments

This research was undertaken as part of the longitudinal interdisciplinary study on the habitual physical activity and health of elderly people living in Nakanojo, Gunma, Japan (the Nakanojo Study). The study was supported in part by a grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. The authors gratefully acknowledge the expert technical assistance of the research and nursing staffs of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, The University of Tokyo, and the Nakanojo Public Health Center. We would also like to thank the subjects whose participation made this investigation possible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Exercise Sciences Research Group, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, 35-2 Sakaecho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, 173-0015, Japan

    Yukitoshi Aoyagi, Hyuntae Park & Sungjin Park

  2. Faculty of Wellness Studies, Kwassui Women’s College, Nagasaki, Japan

    Tetsuji Kakiyama

  3. Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Kazuhiro Yoshiuchi

  4. Faculty of Physical Education and Health, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Roy J. Shephard

Authors
  1. Yukitoshi Aoyagi
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  2. Hyuntae Park
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  3. Tetsuji Kakiyama
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  4. Sungjin Park
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  5. Kazuhiro Yoshiuchi
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  6. Roy J. Shephard
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yukitoshi Aoyagi.

Additional information

Communicated by Susan Ward.

Appendix: practical issues of data analysis

Appendix: practical issues of data analysis

Specific issues that arose in the course of this analysis were (1) the merits of excluding a few outlying data points and (2) the choice between a linear and a non-linear analysis of the data. These two issues are addressed in this appendix.

Outlying data points

Observations on 8 of the 198 subjects were outliers, as defined by a Smirnov-Grubbs test. After appropriate covariate adjustments for sex, age, and MAP, coefficients of correlations between habitual physical activity and PWV were calculated for the entire sample (n = 198) and after excluding outliers (n = 190). As can be seen from Table 2, all coefficients (and thus the statistical significance of the relationship) were essentially similar for the entire and the reduced sample.

Table 2 Partial correlations between habitual physical activity and arterial stiffness, after adjustment of data for sex, age, and mean arterial pressure
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Linear versus non-linear analysis

A comparison of linear and non-linear relationships between habitual physical activity and PWV showed only marginal and statistically non-significant differences (Table 3; Fig. 3). It was thus appropriate to use linear analyses, with post hoc ANCOVA. This facilitated adjustment of data for important confounding variables such as sex, age, and MAP, and it also allowed comparisons with previous studies that had determined the threshold amounts of habitual activity associated with better mental, psychosocial, physical and metabolic health.

Table 3 Simple correlations between habitual physical activity and arterial stiffness, as determined by linear and by non-linear analysis
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Fig. 3
figure 3

Illustrating the close correspondence between linear (solid) and non-linear (broken) regression lines fitted to the significant relationships between habitual physical activity and arterial stiffness

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Aoyagi, Y., Park, H., Kakiyama, T. et al. Yearlong physical activity and regional stiffness of arteries in older adults: the Nakanojo Study. Eur J Appl Physiol 109, 455–464 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-010-1357-2

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