Cargando…

Effect of a Brief Heat Exposure on Blood Pressure and Physical Performance of Older Women Living in the Community—A Pilot-Study

Global climate change is affecting health and mortality, particularly in vulnerable populations. High ambient temperatures decrease blood pressure (BP) in young and middle aged adults and may lead to orthostatic hypotension, increasing the risk of falls in older adults. The aim of this study was to...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Stotz, Anja, Rapp, Kilian, Oksa, Juha, Skelton, Dawn A., Beyer, Nina, Klenk, Jochen, Becker, Clemens, Lindemann, Ulrich
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4276636/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25489997
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph111212623
_version_ 1782350265410650112
author Stotz, Anja
Rapp, Kilian
Oksa, Juha
Skelton, Dawn A.
Beyer, Nina
Klenk, Jochen
Becker, Clemens
Lindemann, Ulrich
author_facet Stotz, Anja
Rapp, Kilian
Oksa, Juha
Skelton, Dawn A.
Beyer, Nina
Klenk, Jochen
Becker, Clemens
Lindemann, Ulrich
author_sort Stotz, Anja
collection PubMed
description Global climate change is affecting health and mortality, particularly in vulnerable populations. High ambient temperatures decrease blood pressure (BP) in young and middle aged adults and may lead to orthostatic hypotension, increasing the risk of falls in older adults. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of a test protocol to investigate BP response and aerobic capacity of older adults in a hot indoor environment. BP response and aerobic capacity were assessed in 26 community-dwelling older women (median age 75.5 years) at a room temperature of either 20 °C or 30 °C. The protocol was well tolerated by all participants. In the 30 °C condition systolic and diastolic BP (median difference 10 and 8 mmHg, respectively) and distance walked in 6 min (median difference 29.3 m) were lower than in the 20 °C condition (all p < 0.01). Systolic BP decreased after standing up from a lying position in the 30 °C (17.4 mmHg) and 20 °C (14.2 mmHg) condition (both p < 0.001). In conclusion, the protocol is feasible in this cohort and should be repeated in older adults with poor physical performance and impaired cardio-vascular response mechanisms. Furthermore, aerobic capacity was reduced after exposure to hot environmental temperatures, which should be considered when recommending exercise to older people during the summer months.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-4276636
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2014
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-42766362015-01-08 Effect of a Brief Heat Exposure on Blood Pressure and Physical Performance of Older Women Living in the Community—A Pilot-Study Stotz, Anja Rapp, Kilian Oksa, Juha Skelton, Dawn A. Beyer, Nina Klenk, Jochen Becker, Clemens Lindemann, Ulrich Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Global climate change is affecting health and mortality, particularly in vulnerable populations. High ambient temperatures decrease blood pressure (BP) in young and middle aged adults and may lead to orthostatic hypotension, increasing the risk of falls in older adults. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of a test protocol to investigate BP response and aerobic capacity of older adults in a hot indoor environment. BP response and aerobic capacity were assessed in 26 community-dwelling older women (median age 75.5 years) at a room temperature of either 20 °C or 30 °C. The protocol was well tolerated by all participants. In the 30 °C condition systolic and diastolic BP (median difference 10 and 8 mmHg, respectively) and distance walked in 6 min (median difference 29.3 m) were lower than in the 20 °C condition (all p < 0.01). Systolic BP decreased after standing up from a lying position in the 30 °C (17.4 mmHg) and 20 °C (14.2 mmHg) condition (both p < 0.001). In conclusion, the protocol is feasible in this cohort and should be repeated in older adults with poor physical performance and impaired cardio-vascular response mechanisms. Furthermore, aerobic capacity was reduced after exposure to hot environmental temperatures, which should be considered when recommending exercise to older people during the summer months. MDPI 2014-12-05 2014-12 /pmc/articles/PMC4276636/ /pubmed/25489997 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph111212623 Text en © 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Stotz, Anja
Rapp, Kilian
Oksa, Juha
Skelton, Dawn A.
Beyer, Nina
Klenk, Jochen
Becker, Clemens
Lindemann, Ulrich
Effect of a Brief Heat Exposure on Blood Pressure and Physical Performance of Older Women Living in the Community—A Pilot-Study
title Effect of a Brief Heat Exposure on Blood Pressure and Physical Performance of Older Women Living in the Community—A Pilot-Study
title_full Effect of a Brief Heat Exposure on Blood Pressure and Physical Performance of Older Women Living in the Community—A Pilot-Study
title_fullStr Effect of a Brief Heat Exposure on Blood Pressure and Physical Performance of Older Women Living in the Community—A Pilot-Study
title_full_unstemmed Effect of a Brief Heat Exposure on Blood Pressure and Physical Performance of Older Women Living in the Community—A Pilot-Study
title_short Effect of a Brief Heat Exposure on Blood Pressure and Physical Performance of Older Women Living in the Community—A Pilot-Study
title_sort effect of a brief heat exposure on blood pressure and physical performance of older women living in the community—a pilot-study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4276636/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25489997
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph111212623
work_keys_str_mv AT stotzanja effectofabriefheatexposureonbloodpressureandphysicalperformanceofolderwomenlivinginthecommunityapilotstudy
AT rappkilian effectofabriefheatexposureonbloodpressureandphysicalperformanceofolderwomenlivinginthecommunityapilotstudy
AT oksajuha effectofabriefheatexposureonbloodpressureandphysicalperformanceofolderwomenlivinginthecommunityapilotstudy
AT skeltondawna effectofabriefheatexposureonbloodpressureandphysicalperformanceofolderwomenlivinginthecommunityapilotstudy
AT beyernina effectofabriefheatexposureonbloodpressureandphysicalperformanceofolderwomenlivinginthecommunityapilotstudy
AT klenkjochen effectofabriefheatexposureonbloodpressureandphysicalperformanceofolderwomenlivinginthecommunityapilotstudy
AT beckerclemens effectofabriefheatexposureonbloodpressureandphysicalperformanceofolderwomenlivinginthecommunityapilotstudy
AT lindemannulrich effectofabriefheatexposureonbloodpressureandphysicalperformanceofolderwomenlivinginthecommunityapilotstudy