Hypertension is a worldwide health care burden that affects the structure and function of the macro- and microcirculation. Non-invasive vascular biomarkers are essential to timely diagnose end organ damage to improve cardiovascular (CV) risk stratification and medical decision making. The "Hypertension and retinal microvascular dysfunction" (HyperVasc) trial will investigate macro- and microvascular impairments in hypertensive patients and healthy controls to investigate hypertension-induced end organ damage by using gold-standard methods as well as newly developed and unique retinal microvascular biomarkers. Additionally, this trial will investigate the reversible effects of an eight weeks supervised and walking based high-intensity exercise intervention on blood pressure as well as macro- and microvascular health, compared to a control group with standard physical activity recommendations. Secondary outcomes will be cardiorespiratory fitness, physical activity, microalbuminuria, hypertensive retinopathy, and classical cardiovascular risk marker. The results of the HyperVasc trial will improve the understanding of hypertension-induced vascular impairments and will push the development of non-invasive vascular biomarker to screen end organ damage in general CV risk stratification.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE
Enrollment
85
The exercise intervention will be eight weeks of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) started by one warm-up week with an intensity of 75% maximum heart rate (HRmax). In the following seven weeks, the participants will perform a HIIT based on the following protocol and with a total duration of 45 minutes per session: warm-up for 10 minutes at 60-70% HRmax followed by a high-intensity interval consisting of 4x4 minutes at 80-90% HRmax with 3 minutes of active recovery at 60-70% HRmax and a 10 minutes cool-down at 60-70% HRmax. HR will be monitored during training by Polar® H7 heart rate sensors combined with Polar® M400 watches.
The control group will get physical activity recommendations based on actual guidelines from the European Association of Preventive Cardiology.
Department of Sports, Exercise and Health
Basel, Switzerland
Change from baseline arteriolar-to-venular diameter ratio to 8 weeks post-intervention
Time frame: Baseline and 8 weeks post-intervention
Arteriolar-to-venular diameter ratio differences between healthy controls and hypertensive patients
Time frame: Baseline
Change from baseline central retinal arteriolar and venular diameter equivalents to 8 weeks post-intervention
mu
Time frame: Baseline and 8 weeks post-intervention
Central retinal arteriolar and venular diameter equivalent differences between healthy controls and hypertensive patients
mu
Time frame: Baseline
Change from baseline arteriolar and venular flicker-light induced dilatation response to 8 weeks post-intervention
Time frame: Baseline and 8 weeks post-intervention
arteriolar and venular flicker-light induced dilatation response differences between healthy controls and hypertensive patients
Time frame: Baseline
Change from baseline pulse wave velocity to 8 weeks post-intervention
m/s
Time frame: Baseline and 8 weeks post-intervention
Pulse wave velocity differences between healthy controls and hypertensive patients
m/s
Time frame: Baseline
Change from baseline 24h blood pressure to 8 weeks post-intervention
mmHg
Time frame: Baseline and 8 weeks post-intervention
24h blood pressure differences between healthy controls and hypertensive patients
mmHg
Time frame: Baseline
Change from baseline cardiorespiratory fitness to 8 weeks post-intervention
VO2peak (ml/min/kg)
Time frame: Baseline and 8 weeks post-intervention
Cardiorespiratory fitness differences between healthy controls and hypertensive patients
VO2peak (ml/min/kg)
Time frame: Baseline
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