Ubolsakka-Jones Chulee, Sangthong Benjarat, Aueyingsak Sahachat, Jones David A
1School of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Khon Kaen University, THAILAND; 2Faculty of Physical Therapy, Rungsit University, THAILAND; and 3School of Healthcare Science, Manchester Metropolitan University, ENGLAND.
Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2016 Jun;48(6):983-9. doi: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000000883.
Exercise is generally regarded as beneficial for health, but the consequent increases in blood pressure might pose a risk for hypertensive subjects. The purpose of this study was to determine blood pressure responses to dynamic exercise and sustained handgrip in patients with isolated systolic hypertension (ISH) who were stable on medication.
Nineteen female ISH patients (66 ± 5 yr) and 19 age-matched normotensive (NT) female controls undertook a 5-min cycle exercise (60% heart rate reserve [HRR]) and a 2-min handgrip exercise (30% maximum voluntary contraction). Blood pressure responses were measured using an oscillometric cuff, together with heart rate and resting brachial pulse transit times.
Systolic blood pressure (SBP) levels after cycle exercise were 194 ± 18 and 153 ± 19 mm Hg for ISH and NT, respectively, with the increase above resting being greater for ISH (P < 0.001), and only small changes were found in diastolic blood pressure (DBP). During handgrip exercise, SBP rose to 168 ± 19 and 140 ± 8 mm Hg for ISH and NT, respectively. The increases above baseline were greater for ISH both during the exercise and postexercise circulatory occlusion (P = 0.017). The increase in DBP levels during exercise and postexercise occlusion were similar in ISH and NT, suggesting little difference in metaboreflex sensitivity. Pulse transit time was shorter for ISH compared with NT (166 ± 6 ms and 242 ± 24 ms, respectively, P < 0.001), indicating stiffer arteries, which would increase SBP but not DBP.
Despite being well controlled and normotensive control subjects at rest, ISH patients had high SBP responses to both dynamic and static exercises, which may constitute a risk for cardiovascular incidents.
