Abstract 9882: Post-Exercise Blood Pressure Predicts Future Cardiovascular Mortality in Asymptomatic Individuals

Background: Non-electrocardiographic parameters obtained from exercise testing, including exercise capacity, exercise blood pressure, chronotropic response, and heart rate recovery, are clinically useful in determining prognosis in asymptomatic individuals. We hypothesized a relationship between post-exercise blood pressure (BP) and CVD mortality. Methods and results: After performing submaximal Bruce treadmill tests, a total of 6,451 asymptomatic North American study participants (56% males, mean age 44) from the Lipid Research Clinic Prevalence Study were prospectively followed for 20 years (366 CVD deaths). Post-exercise BP was the measured BP taken after ceasing exercise for 2 min, 4 min, and 6 min for systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP). The association of CVD mortality was stronger for post-exercise SBP (4 min age- and sex-adjusted hazard ratio 1.42 [95% CI, 1.28-1.55] per 1-SD increment [21 mmHg]) than post-exercise DBP (1.26 [1.14-1.38] per 1-SD increment [12 mm Hg]). After multivariate adjustment,...