OBJECTIVE: Assess the influence of physical activity on the blood pressure of hypertensive elderly patients on non-pharmacological treatment (NPT). METHODS: The authors studied men and women, over 60 years, with stage I hypertension who were not using antihypertensive medication. These patients had been randomly allocated to one of two groups: control group (CG) -- oriented to NPT; and study group (SG) -- NPT and a program that included supervised physical activity consisting of 1-hour sessions, 3 times a week. Duration of the study was 6 months. Screening and follow-up tests every 3 months, at Visits 1, 2 and 3 included a clinical evaluation, ECG, a treadmill stress test, ambulatory blood pressure measurement (ABPM) and an Echocardiogram. The authors used the Friedman test for the evolutionary analysis of the intra-groups means and Student's t test to compare independent data between groups. RESULTS: Twenty-four patients were randomized in the SG (5 men) and 21 in the CG (4 men). The 6-month follow-up period was completed by 22 patients in the SG and 13 in the CG. Blood pressures found by the ABPM in V1, V2 and V3 were 134.2 +/- 14.5, 136.1 +/- 9 and 143.7 +/- 13.9 mmHg for systolic blood pressure in the CG; and 135.6 +/- 11.4, 138.7 +/- 12.2 and 133.9 +/- 8.5 mmHg in the SG. For diastolic blood pressure, values in the CG were 78.7 +/- 5.8, 82.3 +/- 6.2 and 83.3 +/- 9.2 mmHg; and in the SG, 80.1 +/- 6.8, 81 +/- 6.6 and 80.8 +/- 7.3 mmHg. CONCLUSION: Programmed and supervised physical activity was more efficient for maintaining adequate blood pressure control in these elderly with stage I hypertension in the study group, when compared to the control group.

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