More Study Needed on Benefits of Exercise in Hypertension

The benefits of regular exercising for patients with hypertension need more informative clinical studies, claims a new report.

People with increased blood pressure receive much well meant advice, for example, to adopt stress-management strategies, smoke less and drink less alcohol.

High Blood Pressure
High blood pressure or hypertension is defined as a blood pressure of above 140 mm Hg (systolic) and or 90mm Hg (diastolic).

The researchers at German Institute for Quality and Efficiency and Health Care (IQWiG) were particularly interested firstly, to know whether people with hypertension, by exercising more, can actually reduce the risk of heart attacks or stroke, and secondly, to determine how more exercise affects their health-related quality of life.

Patients in the intervention group had been advised to exercise more over a longer period of time (e.g. cycling, running, hiking, swimming), while those in the control group had not been given this advice. In addition, only studies lasting 24 weeks or more were considered.

Overall, IQWiG and its external experts included 8 randomised controlled trials lasting 6 to 12 months in the assessment.

High Blood Pressure | Hypertension - Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis & Treatment
High blood pressure or hypertension is a chronic condition, which usually lasts a lifetime once it is developed.

As the assessment showed, the studies considered in the report allow no conclusions on patient-relevant aspects of the benefit of increased physical activity in hypertension.

The studies did not provide sufficient results, neither on mortality, disease of the heart and circulatory system (cardiovascular morbidity), and kidney failure (end-stage renal disease), nor on health-related quality of life.

High Blood Pressure and Herbs - Garlic - Arjuna - Indian Snakeroot - Olive
Drug intervention need not be the only option to help lower your moderately high blood pressure. Lifestyle changes along with herb remedies such as garlic, arjuna, sarpagandha, and olive can serve the purpose.

Sufficient data were also lacking on side effects (adverse events): as many elderly patients suffer from hypertension they could potentially have a higher risk of falling or injuring themselves.

In contrast, in all studies the effects of exercise on blood pressure were analysed. The data show that increased physical activity could lower the systolic (higher) value by 5 to 8 mmHg.

Blood Pressure Chart
Blood pressure is the pressure of the blood flowing through your blood vessels against the vessel walls. Just by entering you age, you can get the accurate range of blood pressure value.

"To avoid misunderstandings: our conclusion is not that more exercise is useless or even harmful.

"However, it is a sobering fact that medications to lower blood pressure have been tested in dozens of large studies but we still know little about the advantages and disadvantages of physical activity, even though national and international professional associations have recommended this measure for a long time," said Jurgen Windeler of IQWiG.

The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency and Health Care (IQWiG) published the results of a report.

Source-ANI