| Objective: To investigate the effect of low-intensity exercise and fitness program on improving cardiovascular function in elderly people with sarcopenia through a 12-week low-intensity exercise and fitness program intervention,and to analyze the changes of cardiovascular-related indexes before and after the intervention.Methods: The study was conducted in two phases with 10 community elderly services in Hohhot as the experimental research base.Phase I: 526 elderly people aged 60 years or older in 10 communities in Hohhot were selected as survey subjects,and 6m-step speed,grip strength and skeletal muscle mass index were tested according to the screening criteria recommended by the Chinese Expert Group on Sarcopenia,and 92 patients（53 males and 39 females）.Phase 2: The above 92 elderly people with sarcopenia were used as experimental subjects to implement a 12-week low-intensity exercise fitness program.The specific contents mainly included whole-body warm-up exercises,aerobic exercises for walking,strength exercises for their own body weight,and relaxation exercises to promote body recovery and improve flexibility,3 times a week,60-80 min minutes each time,with a total exercise time of not less than 180 min per week,mainly implemented by means of community focused intervention and home assisted intervention.And the supervision and guidance were carried out by means of on-site supervision,We Chat punch card and telephone return visit.The cardiovascular function-related indexes such as muscle content,fat content,waist-to-hip ratio,lung capacity,2-min leg lift,blood pressure of the limbs,pulse wave velocity（ba PWV）,and blood pressure index（ABI）of the stepped arm were measured before and after the exercise intervention,and the changes of the indexes after the intervention were analyzed,and the intervention effects of the exercise program on the cardiovascular function of elderly people with sarcopenia were evaluated by the degree of changes of the indexes.Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 26.0 software to establish the database,and the paired-samples t-test was used to compare the indexes before and after the exercise intervention,and the independent-samples t-test was used to test the gender differences in the changes of the indexes.The significance level was determined as P < 0.05.Results:（1）Among the 526 elderly people（301 males and 225 females）surveyed,a total of 92 elderly people（53 males and 39 females）were judged to have sarcopenia,and the overall sarcopenia detection rate was 17.49%.Among them,the detection rates were 17.60% and 17.33% for males and females,respectively.（2）After 12 weeks of exercise intervention,no significant changes were seen in body morphological indicators such as body weight,BMI,muscle content,fat content,visceral fat,body fat percentage and waist-to-hip ratio,and functional indicators such as quiet heart rate and spirometry in elderly people with sarcopenia,although there was a trend of improvement（P>0.05）.（3）After the 12-week exercise intervention,the physical strength index 2min leg lifts improved significantly（P < 0.01）,by 7.73 and 6.71 for men and women,respectively.（4）After 12 weeks of exercise intervention,blood pressure was improved to some extent,and the extremity blood pressure index Rb DIA decreased by 1.5 mm Hg and Ra SYS decreased by 3.94 mm Hg in men（all P values<0.05）.In women,the extremity blood pressure index Rb DIA decreased by 0.36 mm Hg（P < 0.05）.In men,the differential extremity blood pressure indexes s IAD decreased by 2.96 mm Hg,d IAD decreased by 1.30 mm Hg,s IAND decreased by 1.97 mm Hg,and d IAND decreased by 3.35 mm Hg（all P values < 0.05）,and the differential extremity blood pressure index d IAND decreased by 2.70 mm Hg in women（P < 0.01）.Meanwhile,the indicators of Lb DIA,La DIA,and Ra DIA were significantly higher in men than in women（P < 0.05）,while d IAD was significantly lower than in women（P < 0.05）.（5）Vascular wall stiffness improved significantly（P < 0.05）after the12-week exercise intervention,in which Lba PWV and Rba PWV decreased by23.10 cm/s and 39.9 cm/s in men;Lba PWV and Rba PWV decreased by31.66 cm/s and 33.58 cm/s in women,respectively.（6）After the 12-week exercise intervention,no significant changes were seen in the degree of vascular obstruction（P>0.05）,LABI increased by 0.01 and 0.02 in men and women,respectively,and RABI both increased by 0.03.No differences were found between genders in LABI and RABI indices in men and women before and after the exercise intervention（P > 0.05）.（7）After the 12-week exercise intervention,overall vascular age decreased significantly by 0.9 years（P < 0.05）,by 0.95 and 0.82 years in men and women,respectively.Conclusion:（1）12-week low-intensity exercise fitness program improves blood pressure levels in the extremities of older adults with sarcopenia.（2）12-week low-intensity exercise fitness program improves vascular stiffness and reduces vascular age in older adults with sarcopenia.（3）12-week low-intensity exercise fitness program can improve aerobic endurance levels in older adults with sarcopenia.（4）12-week low-intensity exercise fitness program improves cardiovascular function in older adults with sarcopenia. |
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