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To determine the effectiveness of a 10-week aerobic exercise training intervention on blood pressure, cardiorespiratory fitness, and workload in African American women with prehypertension. After we obtained informed consent and medical clearance, each participant underwent baseline measurements, an aerobic exercise-training regimen, and postintervention assessments. This investigation took place in Columbus, Ohio, on the campus of The Ohio State University. Twelve sedentary African American women with prehypertension volunteered to participate. Study participants trained three days per week for 30 minutes per session at an intensity of 70% maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 peak) for 10 weeks. Blood pressure, cardiorespiratory fitness, and workload achieved. Exercise training resulted in a significant improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness and workload capacity. However, no significant reductions in blood pressure were seen after the 10-week aerobic exercise period. Ten weeks of 30 minutes of aerobic exercise, three times a week at 70% VO2 peak, is a sufficient stimulus to improve cardiorespiratory fitness and workload achieved. However, this exercise regimen was not adequate in eliciting a simultaneous reduction in systolic, diastolic, or mean arterial blood pressure in this cohort of prehypertensive African American women. Additional studies are needed to determine specific exercise protocols that would be effective in lowering blood pressure in various populations. These exercise protocols may vary across ethnicity, sex, and disease status.

This article compares and contrasts African American and white women regarding exercise and its effect on high blood pressure.

This study determined the positive effectiveness of a 10-week aerobic exercise training intervention on cardiorespiratory fitness and workload capacity among a small group of African American women with pre-hypertension, but found no significant reduction in blood pressure during the time period under review.

Exercise training has consistently been shown, in the research literature, to be an effective non-pharmacological alternative to treat hypertension (HTN). However, the underlying mechanism that accounts for the reductive and possible preventive effects, induced by exercise have not been clearly established. To our knowledge, no study has examined the effect of an aerobic exercise-training program on prehypertension (resting blood pressure between 120/80–139/89 mm Hg) and the underlying variables that may exacerbate the disease's development in apparently healthy African American women. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of a 10-week aerobic exercise-training regimen on total peripheral resistance (TPR), heart rate variability (HRV), and prehypertensive blood pressure status in apparently healthy African American women. Twenty-three prehypertensive African American women served as study participants (12 exercised trained and 11 controls). Each participant was required to meet all inclusionary criteria which included: being an African American woman between the ages of 30–45 years, a sedentary lifestyle, non-smoking status, body mass index between 25–35 (kg· m−2), and a prehypertensive blood pressure status. A VO2 peak and submaximal exercise test were conducted on the cycle ergometer. HRV was assessed using power spectral analysis of beat-to-beat measurements in various frequency domains. Results revealed a significant reduction in TPR in the trained group from pre to post intervention periods (pre 35.3 ± 5.1 mm Hg·L·min −1 vs. post 26.9 ± 4.3 mm Hg·L ·min−1) (p < .05). The trained group also increased in VO2 peak and absolute workload achieved (19.0 ± 1.1 vs. 23.0 ± 1.1 ml·kg· min−1; 116 ± 4.7 vs. 133 ± 8.3 watts, respectively) (p < .05). There were no observed significant changes in systolic, diastolic, or mean arterial blood pressure from pre to post-exercise periods in either group. However, the absolute change in resting SBP from pre to post when comparing the exercise and control group was statistically significant (4.75 and −4.45 mm Hg, respectively)(negative numbers indicate a increase from pre to post measurement periods) (p < .05). The findings of this investigation suggests that a 10-week aerobic exercise training protocol is sufficient enough to elicit changes in TPR, but was not a strong enough stimulus to reduce associated blood pressure levels in African American women with prehypertension.