Central blood pressure and arterial stiffness among ultramarathon runners across the lifespan

AimRegular exercise is beneficial, but more exercise may not always benefit cardiovascular health (extreme exercise hypothesis). This is concerning, because ultramarathon participation is growing, but previous work on cardiovascular health among ultramarathon runners is equivocal. Prior work has not examined this population's age-related differences in prognostic cardiovascular health metrics.PurposeMeasure brachial and central BP and arterial stiffness (carotid-to-femoral pulse wave velocity [cfPWV]) among ultramarathon runners.MethodsWe measured supine BP and cfPWV (SphygmoCor-XCEL) among 71 athletes (16 female/55 male; body mass index: 22.6 +/- 1.8 kg/m2) 1-3 days before they competed in the 161-km Western States Endurance Run. We present data as mean +/- SD. We analyzed the relation between age and central BP, brachial BP, and cfPWV with nonlinear (quadratic) regression.ResultsThere was a significant curvilinear relation between age (46 +/- 10; range 26-69 years) and central (116 +/- 8 mmHg, R2 = 0.18, P = 0.02) but not brachial (129 +/- 9 mmHg, R2 = 0.06, P = 0.11) systolic BP. There was a significant relation between age and central (79 +/- 7 mmHg, R2 = 0.24, P < 0.001) and brachial (78 +/- 7 mmHg, R2 = 0.23, P < 0.001) diastolic BP. There was a significant (R2 = 0.31, P = 0.02) curvilinear relation between age and cfPWV (6.5 +/- 1.0m/s). Average brachial systolic BP differed by + 1.4 mmHg/decade, and 86% of athletes had a cfPWV below age-predicted (mean difference: - 0.9 +/- 1.0 m/s).ConclusionsThese are among the first data to characterize central BP and arterial stiffness across a wide age range of ultramarathon runners. Further work is needed to determine the longitudinal changes associated with training for and competing in ultramarathons.