Anti-hypertensive Therapy and Exercise Treatment to Improve Vascular Health in Patients With Hypertension.

Anti-hypertensive Therapy and Exercise Treatment to Improve Vascular Health in Patients With Hypertension. A Randomized Controlled Trial.

This is a prospective, monocentric, randomized controlled trial to investigate the effect of anti-hypertensive treatment and/or individualized exercise training intervention on blood pressure and vascular health. Furthermore the investigators want to decipher mechanisms, which contribute to vascular health by analyzing changes in metabolism and cell function in relation to vascular reaction.

Arterial hypertension is a global health burden that affects the structure and function of large and small blood vessels and induces disease-specific end-organ damage. Exercise therapy is highly recommended in the treatment of arterial hypertension to reduce blood pressure and ameliorate hypertension-induced vascular damage. Previous exercise intervention studies have shown that exercise treatment improves vascular dysfunction independently of changes in blood pressure. Several sensitive vascular biomarkers exist that could optimize risk stratification and therapeutic decisions based on the progression of individual vascular damage in patients with arterial hypertension. However, individualized vascular assessment during anti-hypertensive treatment is not yet part of routine clinical practice. In order to improve clinical decision making from a personalized medicine perspective, it is essential to better understand which vascular biomarkers have the best sensitivity in detecting therapy-induced vascular adaptations and whether anti-hypertensive therapy with or without additional exercise improves vascular health in patients with hypertension. The proposed study will evaluate the effects of guideline-directed anti-hypertensive therapy with or without individualized exercise training intervention in 60 patients with hypertension and no previous medical treatment for one year. Regular outpatient assessments of blood pressure and large and small blood vessels will be performed every two months. Anti-hypertensive therapy will be based on the current guidelines of the European Society of Hypertension. The investigators aim to achieve the target blood pressure after six months of treatment. A further six-month follow-up is planned to assess the long-term effects of anti-hypertensive therapy, with or without additional individualized exercise training intervention, on blood pressure and macro- and microvascular health. In addition, the investigators will investigate the effect of metabolic changes induced by anti-hypertensive treatment or individualized exercise training intervention on vascular health.

Inclusion Criteria:

- systolic hypertension grade I-II (BP values >140 mmHg to <180 mmHg) without anti-hypertensive medication treatment

Exclusion Criteria:

• no written informed consent
• age <18 years
• isolated diastolic hypertension
• medical contraindications for the exercise treatment (for example orthopedic problems or an abnormal ECG during the cardio respiratory exercise test)
• chronic eye diseases on both eyes (for example macular degeneration or glaucoma) or high intraocular pressure (>20 mmHg)