Arterial blood pressure behavior during progressive muscular exercise in subjects with stable arterial hypertension

: To assess the behaviour of blood pressure (BP) during exercise in hypertensive patients (H), 103 males aged 21 to 59 years (mean 43 years) with essential hypertension WHO class I-II were studied. All H, without antihypertensive therapy for at least 15 days, underwent sitting bicycle exercise (10 W/min). BP was measured on the left arm by a standard mercury sphygmomanometer. The fifth Korotkoff phase was taken as the diastolic pressure. Heart rate was measured by electrocardiogram. Subjects were studied at rest in sitting position, during exercise every 3 min and during recovery at 1, 3 and 5 min. As controls we took 100 normotensive (N) males aged 20 to 59 years (mean 39 years). The results were analyzed also by decades. Systolic (S) and diastolic (D) blood pressure were higher in H in comparison with N at rest, in sitting position, (N 119 +/- 10/79 +/- 7 mmHg; H 162 +/- 21/112 +/- 11 mmHg; p less than 0.01), during exercise and recovery. SBP and, to a lesser extent DBP, progressively increased during exercise both in N and in H patients (at peak exercise: N 192 +/- 20/85 +/- 13 mmHg; H 239 +/- 25/121 +/- 13 mmHg, p less than 0.01). The mean increase of SBP during exercise was 77 mmHg in H and 73 mmHg in N (NS). DBP increment was about 6 mmHg in N and 9 mmHg in H (NS). Within the age decades, SBP during exercise was higher in the age group of 50 to 59 in comparison with 20 to 29 in N and H (p less than 0.05) and DBP in the age group of 40 to 49 and 50 to 59 in comparison with 20 to 29 and 30 to 39 (p less than 0.01). The fall of SBP and DBP was greater at 1 min of recovery both in H and N and became progressively smaller thereafter. At a same workload (90 and 120 W) 60% of H had SBP and 85% had DBP higher than BP in N (above 200/104 mmHg--mean + 2 SD--at 90 W and 215/106 mmHg at 120 W). No difference was observed in heart rate at rest and during exercise between N and H. In conclusion, H had SBP and DBP higher at rest, during exercise and recovery in comparison with N. However, a parallel increase of BP was found in the 2 groups during exercise. Ergometric test showed that 60-85% of H had also excessive increase of systolic and diastolic blood pressure during exercise.