Blood pressure response to moderate physical activity is increased in obesity.

OBJECTIVE To test the hypothesis that in young, normotensive obese subjects, physical activity at a fixed, moderate workload, causes a more pronounced hypertensive effect than in lean subjects. PATIENTS AND METHODS 24 subjects (12 with BMI >30 kg/m(2), 12 with BMI <25 kg/m(2)), underwent a moderate-intensity physical activity protocol (cycling at 100 W). Blood pressure and oxygen consumption were monitored continuously. RESULTS In the obese subjects, physical activity caused a more pronounced increase in both systolic blood pressure (increase of 40.4 +/- 15.3 mmHg vs 21.2 +/- 10.2 mmHg in lean subjects; p=0.001) and diastolic blood pressure (17.5 +/- 17.9 mmHg vs 3.2 +/- 8.1 mmHg in lean subjects; p=0.02). In regression analyses, these differences were only partly explained by small differences in resting blood pressure. CONCLUSION Healthy obese subjects show an enhanced prohypertensive response of both systolic and diastolic blood pressure to moderate-intensity physical activity.