Effect of Hypoxic Conditioning on Cerebrovascular Health in the Elderly

Condition(s) studied

Investigational drug(s) / intervention(s)

Hypoxia and/or Exercise: Hypoxia at rest versus normoxia at rest; Hypoxia during exercise versus Normoxia during exercise.

Study summary

In line with the ever-growing aging of Western populations, the development of preventive strategies to slow down the effects of aging on cardiovascular health represents a major challenge in order to preserve functional capacities and a sufficient quality of life in the elderly. The alteration of vascular function (at the cerebral and systemic level) with aging is an important feature in the clinical picture including a decrease in physical and cognitive capacities. Although physical activity is recognized as an essential means of combating the effects of aging, optimizing its effects by defining the most effective strategies of practice remains a key objective. Offering alternative interventions to exercise training is also necessary for people who are unwilling or unable to engage in a physical activity program. In this context, hypoxic conditioning, alone or in conjunction with rehabilitative exercise training, is a new therapeutic modality with strong preclinical validity, in particular from a cardiovascular standpoint, and used in other pathologies to improve cardiovascular function and exercise performance and quality of life. Our aim is, therefore, to investigate the effect of hypoxic conditioning (alone or in conjunction with exercise training) on cerebrovascular health in the elderly.

Eligibility

Primary outcome measure(s)

• Middle cerebral artery flow velocity — Before intervention; right after intervention; 2 months after intervention
  Changes in middle cerebral artery flow velocity in response to hypercapnia (5% CO2)

Trial sites (1)

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