Briefly: Physical activity (PA) are associated with 35% reduction in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality and 33% reduction in allcause mortality in comparison with sedentary lifestyle. Moreover, there is an inverse dose-response relationship between PA and CVD mortality or risk of coronary artery diseases. Changes in known CVD risk factors such as body weight, blood pressure and serum lipids explain a large proportion (59%) of the observed beneficial effect of exercise on major CVD outcomes. The remaining 40% of risk reduction may be attributed to effects on vascular hemodynamics including endothelial function (EF), arterial remodelling and compliance.

Briefly: Aortic stiffness increases with age and hypertension, and is also enhanced in subjects with diabetes mellitus, atherosclerosis, and end-stage renal disease. Pulse wave analysis is a well recognized way to evaluate aortic stiffness and, consequently, could be useful to evaluate the vascular effects of aging, hypertension, and atherosclerosis. There are different noninvasive methods to assess the arterial pulse wave, such as the carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) and digital photoplethysmography (PTG). The PWV is the velocity of pulse wave to travel a given distance between two sites of the arterial system and has been correlated with age and blood pressure. The PTG has been demonstrated as a useful technique to evaluate the volume changes of peripheral vessels, reflecting both central and peripheral arterial factors.