MRC-ARUK Centre for Musculoskeletal Ageing Research, University of Nottingham, Royal Derby Hospital Centre, DE22 3DT, Derby, UK.
Department of Anaesthetics and Surgery, Royal Derby Hospital, Derby, UK.
Eur J Appl Physiol. 2019 Mar;119(3):645-652. doi: 10.1007/s00421-018-4054-1. Epub 2018 Dec 27.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. Many risk factors for CVD can be modified pharmacologically; however, uptake of medications is low, especially in asymptomatic people. Exercise is also effective at reducing CVD risk, but adoption is poor with time-commitment and cost cited as key reasons for this. Repeated remote ischaemic preconditioning (RIPC) and isometric handgrip (IHG) training are both inexpensive, time-efficient interventions which have shown some promise in reducing blood pressure (BP) and improving markers of cardiovascular health and fitness. However, few studies have investigated the effectiveness of these interventions in premenopausal women.
Thirty healthy females were recruited to twelve supervised sessions of either RIPC or IHG over 4 weeks, or acted as non-intervention controls (CON). BP measurements, flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) and cardiopulmonary exercise tests (CPET) were performed at baseline and after the intervention period.
IHG and RIPC were both well-tolerated with 100% adherence to all sessions. A statistically significant reduction in both systolic (- 7.2 mmHg) and diastolic (- 6 mmHg) BP was demonstrated following IHG, with no change following RIPC. No statistically significant improvements were observed in FMD or CPET parameters in any group.
IHG is an inexpensive and well-tolerated intervention which may improve BP; a key risk factor for CVD. Conversely, our single arm RIPC protocol, despite being similarly well-tolerated, did not elicit improvements in any cardiorespiratory parameters in our chosen population.
心血管疾病（CVD）是全球范围内的主要死亡原因。许多 CVD 的风险因素可以通过药物治疗来改变；然而，药物的使用率很低，尤其是在无症状人群中。运动也能有效降低 CVD 风险，但由于时间和成本的限制，运动的采用率很低。重复远程缺血预处理（RIPC）和等长握力（IHG）训练都是廉价且高效的干预措施，已显示出降低血压（BP）和改善心血管健康和体能标志物的一些潜力。然而，很少有研究调查这些干预措施在绝经前女性中的有效性。
招募了 30 名健康女性，将她们分为 12 组，分别接受 RIPC 或 IHG 训练，为期 4 周，或作为非干预对照组（CON）。在基线和干预期后进行血压测量、血流介导的扩张（FMD）和心肺运动测试（CPET）。
IHG 和 RIPC 均耐受良好，所有疗程的依从率均为 100%。IHG 后收缩压（-7.2mmHg）和舒张压（-6mmHg）均显著降低，而 RIPC 后无变化。任何组的 FMD 或 CPET 参数均无统计学显著改善。
IHG 是一种廉价且耐受良好的干预措施，可能改善 CVD 的主要风险因素——血压。相反，我们的单臂 RIPC 方案，尽管同样耐受良好，但在我们选择的人群中，并没有改善任何心肺参数。
