Association of early systolic blood pressure response to exercise with future cardiovascular events in patients with uncomplicated mild-to-moderate hypertension

An exaggerated increase in blood pressure with exercise does not predict mortality or severe cardiovascular events in women referred for exercise echocardiography for clinical reasons

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

The association between an exaggerated systolic blood pressure increase with exercise (EBPIE) and the probability of cardiovascular events is controversial and poorly studied in the female population. Our aim was to determine the possible association between EBPIE on one hand and mortality and cardiovascular events on the other in women referred for exercise echocardiography due to known or suspected coronary artery disease.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

A total of 3942 women with known or suspected coronary artery disease underwent exercise echocardiography. We defined EBPIE as a ≥70mm Hg increase in systolic blood pressure with exercise. The study endpoints were overall and cardiac mortality, acute myocardial infarction (MI), stroke and coronary revascularisation procedures.

RESULTS

A total of 332 women developed EBPIE during the test. During the follow-up, 458 deaths (162 of cardiac origin), 212 MIs, 89 strokes and 345 coronary revascularisation procedures were recorded. The annual rates of overall and cardiac mortality were lower in the patient subgroup with EBPIE (0.15% vs. 2.3%, P=.02 and 0.01% vs. 0.2%, P=.015, respectively). There were no significant differences in the rates of MI, stroke and the need for coronary revascularisation procedures, which occurred in 1.1%, 0.43% and 2.24% of the patients with EBPIE, respectively, and occurred in 0.09%, 0.05% and 0.13% of the women without EBPIE (P=.66; P=.57; P=.19, respectively). After a multivariate adjustment, EBPIE was not a predictor of mortality or cardiovascular events.

CONCLUSIONS

EBPIE is not associated with mortality or severe cardiovascular events in women with known or suspected coronary artery disease.

Blood Pressure Response to Submaximal Exercise Test in Adults

Background. The assessment of blood pressure (BP) response during exercise test is an important diagnostic instrument in cardiovascular system evaluation. The study aim was to determine normal values of BP response to submaximal, multistage exercise test in healthy adults with regard to their age, gender, and workload. Materials and Methods. The study was conducted in randomly selected normotensive subjects (n = 1015), 512 females and 498 males, aged 18-64 years (mean age 42.1 ± 12.7 years) divided into five age groups. All subjects were clinically healthy with no chronic diseases diagnosed. Exercise stress tests were performed using Monark bicycle ergometer until a minimum of 85% of physical capacity was reached. BP was measured at rest and at peak of each exercise test stage. Results. The relations between BP, age, and workload during exercise test were determined by linear regression analysis and can be illustrated by the equations: systolic BP (mmHg) = 0.346 × load (W) + 135.76 for males and systolic BP (mmHg) = 0.103 × load (W) + 155.72 for females. Conclusions. Systolic BP increases significantly and proportionally to workload increase during exercise test in healthy adults. The relation can be described by linear equation which can be useful in diagnostics of cardiovascular diseases.

Renal denervation improves exercise blood pressure: insights from a randomized, sham-controlled trial

INTRODUCTION

Despite the ongoing debate on the role of renal sympathetic denervation (RSD) in the management of therapy-resistant hypertension, little is known about its possible effects on exercise blood pressure (BP), a known predictor for future cardiovascular events. We sought to evaluate the effect of RSD on exercise BP in a randomized, sham-controlled trial in patients with mild hypertension.

METHODS AND RESULTS

Patients with therapy-resistant mild hypertension (defined by mean daytime systolic BP between 135 and 149 mmHg or mean daytime diastolic BP between 90 and 94 mmHg on 24-h ambulatory BP measurement) were randomized to either radiofrequency-based RSD or a sham procedure. Patients underwent cardiopulmonary exercise testing at baseline and after 6 months. Of the 71 patients randomized, data from cardiopulmonary exercise testing were available for 48 patients (22 in the RSD group, 26 in the sham group). After 6 months, patients undergoing RSD had a significantly lower systolic BP at maximum exercise workload compared to baseline (-14.2 ± 26.1 mmHg, p = 0.009). In contrast, no change was observed in the sham group (0.6 ± 22.9 mmHg, p = 0.45, p = 0.04 for between-group comparison). When analyzing patients with exaggerated baseline exercise BP only, the effect was even more pronounced (RSD vs. sham -29.5 ± 23.4 vs. 0.1 ± 25.3 mmHg, p = 0.008).

CONCLUSION

Exercise systolic BP values in patients with mild therapy-resistant hypertension are reduced after RSD as compared to a sham-procedure.

Blood pressure response to exercise in young athletes aged 10 to 18 years

The aim of the study was to determine arterial blood pressure response to exercise in young athletes. The study group comprised 711 young athletes (457 boys, 254 girls) aged 10 to 18 years (mean 13.41 ± 3.12 years) who had been training for an average of 7.62 ± 4.2 h per week for an average of 4.01 ± 2.5 years. Participants with elevated arterial blood pressure above the 90th percentile at rest were excluded from investigation. A symptom-limited, multistage exercise test to exhaustion was performed using a Monark cycle ergometer. Arterial blood pressure was measured with an aneroid manometer in the third minute of each stage of the test. Mean systolic arterial blood pressure during peak exercise was significantly higher in boys than in girls: 183.21 ± 27.97 mm Hg and 170.97 ± 21.4 mm Hg, respectively (p = 0.03). Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that age and workload had significant effects on arterial blood pressure during the test. Systolic arterial blood pressure during the exercise can be described with the following equations: boys, SBPex (mm Hg) = -1.92 × age (years) + 0.55 × workload (W) + 120.84; girls, SBPex (mm Hg) = -0.88 × age (years) + 0.48 × workload (W) + 111.22. The study results describe reference values of arterial blood pressure during the exercise test. The presented equations and figures can help to assess whether the arterial blood pressure at each stage of the exercise test exceeds the normal range or not.

Exaggerated Exercise Blood Pressure Response During Treadmill Testing as a Predictor of Future Hypertension in Men: A Longitudinal Study

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to evaluate receiver operating characteristic curves to identify optimal cutoff values of exercise systolic blood pressure (SBP) using both peak SBP and relative SBP (peak SBP minus resting SBP) as predictors of future hypertension (HTN).

METHODS

Participants were 3,742 healthy normotensive men who underwent symptom-limited treadmill testing at baseline. Incident HTN was defined as SBP/diastolic blood pressure greater than 140/90 mm Hg and/or diagnosed HTN by a physician.

RESULTS

During an average 5-year follow-up, 364 (9.7%) new cases of HTN were observed. The most discriminatory cutoff values for peak SBP and relative SBP for predicting incident HTN were 181 mm Hg (areas under the curve (AUC) = 0.644, sensitivity = 54%, and specificity = 69%) and 52 mm Hg (AUC = 0.549, sensitivity = 64.3%, and specificity = 44.6%), respectively. Participants with peak SBP greater than 181 mm Hg and relative SBP greater than 52 mm Hg had 1.54-fold (95% CI: 1.23-1.93) and 1.44-fold (95% CI: 1.16-1.80) risks of developing HTN after adjusting for potential confounding variables. When these 2 variables were entered simultaneously into the Cox proportional hazards regression model with adjustment for potential confounding variables, only peak SBP (relative risk: 1.39, 95% CI: 1.02-1.89) was a predictor of the development of HTN.

CONCLUSIONS

The most accurate discriminators for peak and relative SBP during treadmill exercise testing to predict incident HTN were greater than 181 and 52 mm Hg, respectively, in normotensive men. A peak SBP greater than 181 mm Hg during treadmill exercise testing may provide a useful predictor for the development of HTN in clinical practice.