The influence of regular walking at different times of day on blood lipids and inflammatory markers in sedentary patients with coronary artery disease.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the influence of walking at different times of day on lipids and inflammatory markers in sedentary patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).

METHODS: A total of 330 patients recruited from Nanjing between September 2011 and November 2012 were randomly assigned to a control group (n=110), morning (n=110) or evening walking group (n=110). Both the walking groups were asked to walk 30 min/day or more on at least 5 days/week either in the morning or evening for 12 weeks. Lipids and inflammatory markers were measured before and after exercise intervention.

RESULTS: Compared with baseline, total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were improved in all groups. Significances were shown in the changes of fibrinogen, high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), white blood cell (WBC) count, TC, triglycerides, LDL-C, lipoprotein(a) between groups. The evening walking group had a larger decrease in fibrinogen (0.16 ± 0.19 g/L, P<0.001), hsCRP (1.16 ± 1.07 mg/L, P<0.001), WBC count (0.76 ± 1.53·10(9)/L, P=0.004) and LDL-C (0.34 ± 0.31 mmol/L, P<0.001) than the other two groups.

CONCLUSIONS: Our walking program successfully resulted in a favorable change in lipids and inflammatory markers. Patients in the evening walking group gained more benefits than those walking in the morning walking group. NCT01887093.