The impact of aquatic exercise programs on the systemic hematological and inflammatory markers of community dwelling elderly: A randomized controlled trial

Carlos Farinha; José Pedro Ferreira; João Serrano; Hélder Santos; Bárbara Oliveiros; Fernanda M Silva; Márcio Cascante-Rusenhack; Ana Maria Teixeira

doi:10.3389/fphys.2022.838580

The impact of aquatic exercise programs on the systemic hematological and inflammatory markers of community dwelling elderly: A randomized controlled trial

Front Physiol. 2022 Sep 28:13:838580. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2022.838580. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Carlos Farinha^{1

2}, José Pedro Ferreira¹, João Serrano³, Hélder Santos⁴, Bárbara Oliveiros⁵, Fernanda M Silva¹, Márcio Cascante-Rusenhack⁶, Ana Maria Teixeira¹

Affiliations

¹ Research Unit for Sport and Physical Activity, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
² Municipality of Sertã, Sertã, Portugal.
³ Sport, Health and Exercise Research Unit (SHERU), Polytechnic Institute of Castelo Branco, Castelo-Branco, Portugal.
⁴ Polytechnic of Coimbra, ESTeSC, Clinical Physiology, Coimbra, Portugal.
⁵ Coimbra Institute for Clinical and Biomedical Research, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
⁶ School of Physical Education and Sports, University of Costa Rica (UCR), San José, Costa Rica.

Abstract

Evidence shows that physical exercise is important in maintaining an efficient immune system during ageing. However, there are few studies that test the impact of aquatic exercise programs on the immune system. This study aims to analyze the impact of different physical exercise programs in aquatic environment on the systemic hematological and inflammatory markers of community dwelling elderly. One hundred and two elderly were randomly allocated into four groups: a continuous aerobic exercise group (AerG) (n = 25, 71.44 ± 4.84 years); an interval aerobic exercise group (IntG) (n = 28, 72.64 ± 5.22 years); a combined exercise group (ComG) (n = 29, 71.90 ± 5.67 years); a control group (CG) (n = 20, 73.60 ± 5.25 years). The AerG, IntG and ComG participants took part in three different aquatic exercise programs over a 28-weeks period. The CG participants maintained their usual routines during the same time period. Blood samples were collected from all participants in order to access hematologic indicators, by means of cell count, and the inflammatory profile by ELISA. After 28 weeks, significant differences were found for several hematologic variables in the AerG, IntG and ComG with increases in mean corpuscular hemoglobulin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobulin concentration (MCHC), and hemoglobulin (Hb). Decreases in TNF-α levels were found for all exercising groups. An increase in IL-10 levels, granulocytes to lymphocytes ratio (GLR) and a decrease in the TNF-α/IL-10 ratio, were found for the IntG. For the ComG decreases were also found for the TNF-α, IL-1ß/IL-1ra ratios. The present study suggests that aquatic exercise programs were able to improve the inflammatory profile of the participants. Those in the exercise intervention groups showed a shift towards lower pro-inflammatory levels while the non-exercising group showed the opposite behaviour. The IntG and the ComG aquatic exercise programs appeared to be more effective than the AerG program in decreasing chronic low-grade inflammation by mediating the production of higher levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines. However, the differences found between the exercising groups were small and may not have clinical significance.

Keywords: ageing; aquatic environment; hydrogymnastics; inflammageing; interleukins; physical exercise.