entre pessoas com 9 a 11 anos de educação formal. Entre as regiões, quanto menor o nível de escolaridade, maior a prevalência de hipertensão. Conclusão: a prevalência da HAS acima dos 65 anos não seguiu uma tendência linear, mas manteve-se elevada, com predomínio em idosos do sexo feminino e em idosos com baixa escolaridade, chamando a atenção para a necessidade de ações de prevenção dos fatores de risco e acompanhamento em longo prazo dos idosos hipertensos. AbstractObjective: to observe the evolution of the prevalence of hypertension in the Brazilian elderly population between 2006 and 2010. Methods: descriptive, ecological, quantitative study of the prevalence of hypertension among the Brazilian population aged 65 years or above, with data collected through telephone interviews from 2006 to 2010, obtained from the Information Technology Department of the Brazilian Public Health System (DATASUS), related to sex, region and education. Results: we found no significant difference in the prevalence of hypertension across Brazilian regions in the period analyzed. In women aged 65 years or above, the prevalence of hypertension was higher than in men in that same age group. With regard to education, we found that in people with 9-11 years of schooling the prevalence of hypertension in 2006 was significantly lower than in 2008 and 2009. Across Brazilian regions, the lower the education level the higher the prevalence of hypertension. Conclusion: The prevalence of hypertension in the population aged 65 years or above did not follow a linear trend but remained elevated, predominantly in elderly females and elderly people with low schooling, calling attention to the importance of preventing risk factors and to the long-term follow-up of people with hypertension. ResumenObjetivo: observar la evolución de la prevalencia de la hipertensión arterial (HTA) en los ancianos entre 2006 y 2010 en Brasil. Métodos: estudio descriptivo, ecológico, cuantitativo, de un periodo comprendido entre 2006 a 2010 con datos recogidos del Departamento de Informática del Sistema Único de Salud (DATASUS), relacionada con el sexo, la región y la educación en un grupo de edad de 65 años o más. Resultados: en el análisis entre las regiones de Brasil no hay diferencia significativa en los años analizados. En la comparación entre los sexos, la prevalencia de hipertensión en personas con 65 años o más fue mayor en mujeres que en hombres. En la escolaridad, fue encontrado que, con 9-11 años de estudio, la prevalencia en 2006 fue significativamente menor que en los años 2008 y 2009. Entre las regiones, cuanto menor sea el nivel de escolaridad, mayor es la prevalencia de la hipertensión. Conclusión: la prevalencia de la hipertensión en personas con más de 65 años no siguió una tendencia lineal, sino que se mantuvo elevada, sobre todo en mujeres de edad avanzada y en las personas mayores con baja escolaridad, llamando la atención sobre las acciones preventivas y de vigilancia de factores de riesgo en largo plazo en los hipertensos.

The objective of the present study was to compare the effect of acute exercise performed at different intensities in relation to the anaerobic threshold (AT) on abilities requiring control of executive functions or alertness in physically active elderly females. Forty-eight physically active elderly females (63.8 ± 4.6 years old) were assigned to one of four groups by drawing lots: control group without exercise or trial groups with exercise performed at 60, 90, or 110% of AT (watts) and submitted to 5 cognitive tests before and after exercise. Following cognitive pretesting, an incremental cycle ergometer test was conducted to determine AT using a fixed blood lactate concentration of 3.5 mmol/L as cutoff. Acute exercise executed at 90% of AT resulted in significant (P < 0.05, ANOVA) improvement in the performance of executive functions when compared to control in 3 of 5 tests (verbal fluency, Tower of Hanoi test (number of movements), and Trail Making test B). Exercising at 60% of AT did not improve results of any tests for executive functions, whereas exercise executed at 110% of AT only improved the performance in one of these tests (verbal fluency) compared to control. Women from all trial groups exhibited a remarkable reduction in the Simple Response Time (alertness) test (P = 0.001). Thus, physical exercise performed close to AT is more effective to improve cognitive processing of older women even if conducted acutely, and using a customized exercise prescription based on the anaerobic threshold should optimize the beneficial effects.

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In worldwide studies, interleukin-6 (IL-6) is implicated in age-related disturbances. The aim of the present report was to determine the possible association of IL-6 -174 C/G promoter polymorphism with the cytokine profile as well as with the presence of selected cardiovascular risk features. This was a cross-sectional study on Brazilian women aged 60 years or older. A sample of 193 subjects was investigated for impaired glucose regulation, diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. Genotyping was done by direct sequencing of PCR products. IL-6 and C-reactive protein were quantified by high-sensitivity assays. General linear regression models or the Student t-test were used to compare continuous variables among genotypes, followed by adjustments for confounding variables. The chi-square test was used to compare categorical variables. The genotypes were consistent with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium proportions. In a recessive model, mean waist-to-hip ratio, serum glycated hemoglobin and serum glucose were markedly lower in C homozygotes (P = 0.001, 0.028, and 0.047, respectively). In a dominant hypothesis, G homozygotes displayed a trend towards higher levels of circulating IL-6 (P = 0.092). Non-parametric analysis revealed that impaired fasting glucose and hypertension were findings approximately 2-fold more frequent among G homozygous subjects (P = 0.042 and 0.043, respectively). Taken together, our results show that the IL-6 -174 G-allele is implicated in a greater cardiovascular risk. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation of IL-6 promoter variants and agerelated disturbances in the Brazilian elderly population.