The effect of mineral radon water applied in the form of full baths on blood pressure in patients with hypertension

© 2013 Kapetanoviæ et al.; licensee University of Sarajevo Faculty of Health Studies. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. UNIVERSITY OF SARAJEVO FACULTY OF HEALTH STUDIES ABSTRACT


INTRODUCTION
Winternitz (internist, 1835-1917) defi ned the term hydrotherapy as the use of water of diff erent temperatures and aggregate states in dietetic, prophylactic and therapeutic purposes.Th is defi nition is still applicable (1).Mineral waters are generally defi ned as waters with a total dissolved solid content of at least 1g per liter or waters which have a temperature higher than 20° C or contain small amounts of substances with strong physiological infl uence (2).Water of Fojnica spa is an oligomineral, calcium, sodium sulphate hydrocarbonate, radon (radioactive) homoeothermic (3).Radon water is the natural groundwater, with not so deep circulation, which contains less than 50 Bq / l of 222 Rn.Radioactive water acts as an analgesic, anti-infl ammatory and provides neuro -vegetative balance (4-7).Mineral radon water is used in the treatment and rehabilitation of chronic infl ammatory and degenerative rheumatic diseases, neurological diseases, cardiovascular diseases, allergic disorders, gynecological disorders, endocrine and vegetative disorders (1,3,6,(8)(9)(10)(11).Increased blood pressure in medical rehabilitation practice often limits the use of water for therapeutic purposes.Th e aim of this study is to examine the eff ect of radon mineral water applied in the form of full baths on blood pressure in people with hypertension.

METHODS
Total of 27 patients (10 men and 17 women) with diagnosed hypertension were included in this prospective study.Th e average age of patients was 58.10 years.We included mild hypertension patients with systolic blood pressure 140-159 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure 90-99 mm Hg; and moderate hypertension patients with systolic blood pressure 160-179 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure 100-109 mmHg).All of them were regularly using antihypertensive pharmacological therapy and blood pressure was under control.Th e patients with severe hypertension i.e. systolic blood pressure ≥180 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure ≥110 mmHg, and those in which balneotherapy was contraindicated were not included into this study.Testing was performed at the Medical rehabilitation centre "Fojnica".Balneotherapy was applied in the form of full baths with mineral radon water.Th e temperature of water was 35 -36 0 C. Treatment was applied once per day, in the form of twenty minutes baths (one procedure per day).Th e values of systolic and diastolic blood pressure were measured before and after balneotherapy procedure on the fi rst and fi fth day of treatment.Riva-Rocci sphygmomanometer was used to measure arterial blood pressure on the upper arm.Th e blood pressure is specifi ed in millimetres of mercury (mmHg).Statistical processing and analysis of data was conducted.Th e diff erence in results was tested by using appropriate tests of statistical signifi cance of diff erences (t-test).

RESULTS
Th e study included 27 patients (10 men and 17 women) with mild et moderate hypertension.Th e average age of patients was 58.10 years.On the fi rst day of treatment there was no significant change in blood pressure after the application of full baths with radon mineral water of neutral temperature.On the fi fth day of treatment there was no significant change in blood pressure after the application of full baths with radon mineral water of neutral temperature.

DISCUSSION
Twenty seven patients (10 men and 17 women, average age of 58.10 years) with mild and moderate hypertension were included in this prospective study.Th e objective of the study was to examine the eff ect of radon mineral water applied in the form of full baths on blood pressure in people with hypertension.Th e research results show that the use of full baths of neutral temperature does not result in statistically signifi cant increase of blood pressure (measured before and after treatment, on the fi rst and fi fth day of  1. Blood pressure values before and after the treatment in the full bath of neutral temperature -the fi rst day of treatment treatment), which allows a wider application of this hydro procedure in terms of patient safety.Some other researches indicated positive eff ects of balneotherapy on blood pressure.Results of Zunnunov ZR research showed that systolic and diastolic blood pressure after using hydrogen sulphide bath has signifi cantly decreased (12).Ekmekcioglu C. et al. found that patients with secondary, especially with high systolic blood pressure have benefi t from balneotherapy (13).Oláh M. et al. research confi rms that balneotherapy is not contraindicated in patients with hypertension (14).Signifi cant changes in heart rhythm and autonomic regulation are not registered in patients with mild to moderate hypertension after administration of sodium chloride bath (15).In the study Korchinskii VS. hypotensive eff ect of radon baths was determined (16).During the examination of the radon baths eff ect on the lipid profi le of patients with cardiovascular disease and dyslipidemia, the desired level of blood pressure was clinically achieved in 77.2% of patients (17).In our study it was found that the application of mineral radon water in the form of full baths with neutral temperature is not contraindicated in patients with mild and moderate hypertension.

CONCLUSION
Th e signifi cant increase of blood pressure in patients with mild and moderate hypertension of is not expected when using mineral radon water of Fojnica spa in the form of full baths of neutral temperature, which allows a wider application of this balneo procedure in rehabilitation practice.