The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of strength training on oxidative stress and the correlation of the same with forearm vasodilatation and mean blood pressure of hypertensive elderly women, at rest (basal) and during a static handgrip exercise. Insufficiently active hypertensive elderly women (n = 25; mean age 66.1 years) were randomized into a 10 week strength training group (n = 13) or control (n = 12) group. Plasma malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), plasma nitrite (NO2-), forearm blood flow (FBF), mean blood pressure (MBP) and vascular conductance ((FBF/MBP) x 100) were evaluated before and after the completion of the interventions. The strength training group increased the TAC (pre median 39.0; interquartile range 34.0 to 41.5% versus post median 44.0; interquartile range 38.0 to 51.5%; p = 0.006) and reduced the MDA (pre 4.94 +/- 1.10 muM versus post 3.90 +/- 1.35 muM; p = 0.025; CI-95% -1.92 to -0.16 muM). The strength training group increased basal vascular conductance (VC) (pre 3.56 +/- 0.88 units versus post 5.21 +/- 1.28 units; p = 0.001; CI-95% 0.93 to 2.38 units) and decreased basal MBP (pre 93.1 +/- 6.3 mmHg versus post 88.9 +/- 5.4 mmHg; p = 0.035; CI-95% -8.0 to -0.4 mmHg). Such changes were also observed during static handgrip exercise. A moderate correlation was observed between changes in basal VC and MBP with changes in NO2- (delta VC r = -0.56, p = 0.047; delta MBP r = -0.41, p = 0.168) and MDA (delta VC r = 0.64, p = 0.019; delta MBP r = 0.31, p = 0.305). The strength training program reduced the oxidative stress of the hypertensive elderly women and this reduction was moderately correlated with their cardiovascular benefits. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ensaiosclinicos.gov.br RBR-48c29w.

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