AIM: To explore the effect of Taijiquan on the nitrogen monoxidum (NO) and blood lipid of elder patients with atherosclerosis. METHODS: The experiment was completed between September 2004 and March 2006 in the Hospital of Armed Police Force Shaanxi Unit. (1) Forty retired elder patients with atherosclerosis were selected and divided into the Taijiquan group and the blank control group, 20 examples in each. They were all volunteered to participate in this experiment. (2) The Taijiquan group persisted Taijiquan exercise for 60 to 120 minutes every day, altogether 18 months. The blank control group carried on no exercise and rested normally. (3) The Taijiquan group exercised for 18 months, and then two groups of patients were all adopted to extract medial cubital venous blood of the elbow (3.5 mL). Blood serum was separated to determine the levels of blood serum NO, total cholesterol (TC), triacylglycerol (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and HDL-C/TC. RESULTS: All 40 elder examples with atherosclerosis at early stage entered the result analysis. Compared with the blank control group, the contents of NO, HDL-C and HDL-C/TC in blood serum were all increased significantly in Taijiquan group (t = 1.938, 1.910, 1.824, p < 0.05), whereas TG content was reduced obviously (t = 1.982, p < 0.05), and TC was not obviously different (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Taijiquan exercise helps to adjust the blood lipid, increase the content of NO and delay the formation of atherosclerosis in the elder patients.

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