The purpose of this study was to find the effects of walking exercises have on elderly female over the age of 60 who are not taking medication for normal blood pressure, pre-stage hypertension, and stage 1 hypertension patients. The subjects of this study were elderly female of city C in Gyeongsangnam-do, consisting of 14 member groups of a total of 42 participants, and SPSS 14.0 was used for data analysis with ANCOVA and 2-way RM ANOVA for examination. For pre and post testing difference, paired t-test was used and significance level was set at 0.05. Results were as follows.
1. In body composition, there was no significant difference(p＞.05) in weight, waist/hip ratio, and BMI. However, in weight change pre and post testing, significant decrease(p＜.05) showed in pre-stage hypertension and stage 1 hypertension groups. Also, significant decrease(p＜.01) showed in hip ratio for the pre-stage hypertension group, and BMI showed significant decrease(p＜.05) in pre-stage hypertension and stage 1 hypertension groups.
There was no interaction between % body fat and BMR (p＞.05). However, significant decrease (p＜.05) was displayed in the pre and post testing difference in body fat percentage of the pre-stage hypertension group.
2. For change of blood pressure there as no significant difference (p＞.05) in SBP and DBP. However, in SBP pre and post testing difference, significant decrease showed in the normal group (p＜.05), pre-stage hypertension group(p＜.001), and the stage 1 hypertension group(p＜.001). Also, in DBP, significant decrease(p＜.05) was displayed in the pre-stage hypertension group(p＜.01) and the stage 1 hypertension group (p＜.001). There was no interaction in resting heart rate(p＞.05).
3. There was no interaction in all variables for change in blood(p＞.05). However, in pre and post testing for pre-stage hypertension, there was significant decrease in glucose(p＜.001), and for sGPT, there was significant difference for the normal blood pressure group(p＜.05). However, after the examination, all groups carne within normal range.
4. In lipoprotein composition change, no interaction was displayed pre and post testing (p＞.05). However, in HDL-C, significant decrease was displayed in pre-stage hypertension and stage 1 hypertension groups(p＜.05).
Under these results, change in blood pressure shows positive change in body composition and medium intensity exercise. Therefore, with regular simple medium intensity walking exercise in pre-stage hypertension and stage 1 hypertension patients, a leading cause in adult disease such as obesity and hypertension can be prevented in elderly women.