Assessment of Central Blood Pressure and Arterial Stiffness in Practicing Long-Distance Walking Race

Abstract Background: An ecological hiking occurs yearly in Brazil. It is a unique event because of its distance (310 km) and dynamics (mean of 62 km/day for 5 days with mean pace of 7.6 km/h). Although beneficial effects of moderate-intensity exercises are well-known, the effects of intense and long-duration exercise still require study. Objective: To evaluate the effects of mixed walking/running race on various blood pressure (BP) parameters 30 days before (A0), on the 2nd (A2), 3rd (A3), and 4th (A4) days after completing the day's stage. Methods: Central systolic (cSBP) and diastolic BP (cDBP), peripheral systolic (pSBP) and diastolic BP (pDBP), central pulse pressure (cPP), peripheral pulse pressure (pPP), amplified pulse pressure (aPP), corrected augmentation index (AIx75%) and pulse wave velocity (PWV) were measured using an oscillometric Mobil-O-Graph® (IEM, Stolberg, Germany) in 25 male athletes (mean age of 45.3 ± 9.1 years). A p value