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 (034 +/- 031 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. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.