Role of One Month Yoga Training on Arterial Stiffness in Young Adults with Familial Hypertension: A Prospective Interventional Study

Introduction: Family history of hypertension is an important non modifiable risk factor that may lead to development of hypertension in otherwise healthy individuals. This is reflected in altered vascular stiffness parameters in these subjects. Yoga has been shown to improve these parameters and may help prevent or at least postpone the future development of hypertension. Aim: To find out the association between family history of hypertension and vascular stiffness and to determine the effect of yoga as a therapeutic tool in subjects at risk of future hypertension. Materials and Methods: This prospective interventional study was conducted from September to November 2023 at Centre for Yoga and Exercise Physiology, Shri B.M. Patil Medical College and Research Centre, Karnataka, India. Study included a total of 126 apparently healthy consenting undergraduate individuals aged between 18 and 30 years. Anthropometric, physiological, as well as arterial stiffness parameters like pulse wave velocity and Arterial Stiffness Index (ASI), were recorded using Periscope preintervention at week zero and post-yoga intervention at week four. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (Version 20.0) was used to analyse the data. For normally distributed data, an independent t-test was used and for non normally distributed data Mann-Whitney U test was used, with p-value <0.05 considered statistically significant. Results: The study consisted of 46.8% boys and 53.2% girls, with a mean age of 19.94±1.422 years. Significant associations were found between male and females in anthropometric, physiological and arterial stiffness parameters, including Rt. Brachial ASI (p-value=0.002), Rt. Ankle ASI (p-value=0.034), and vascular age (p-value=0.013). At week 0, subjects with family history of hypertension showed appreciable differences in the mean values of vascular parameters, but significant association was only brachial ASI (p-value=0.013). Statistically significant results were observed when the effect of yoga was assessed between week 0 and 4 across most parameters; but group-specific effect of yoga intervention, particularly for subjects with family history of hypertension, was observed only on Rt. Ankle ASI (p-value=0.027). Conclusion: This study revealed a gender difference in arterial stiffness parameters, as well as the significant effect of four weeks of yoga intervention following the prescribed yoga protocol in young adults. Although not statistically significant, differences in mean values also indicate group-specific differences in arterial stiffness parameters favouring stiffer vessels in subjects with family history and the group-specific effects of yoga might warrant further study