Pressor responses to mental stress correlated with 24-hour blood pressure variability (r=0.56), while responses to isometric handgrip correlated with left ventricular mass index (r=0.73).
Cross-Sectional (n=44)
Do pressor responses to laboratory stressors correlate with 24-hour blood pressure variability and left ventricular mass index in normotensive and hypertensive subjects?
Pressor responses to mental stress and isometric handgrip exercise can serve as clinical indicators for 24-hour blood pressure variability and left ventricular hypertrophy, respectively, in patients with essential hypertension.
Effect estimate: r = 0.73
p-value: p=<0.001
We investigated the relation between pressor responses to laboratory stressors and 24-hour blood pressure (BP) variability or left ventricular mass. Mental arithmetic tests, isometric hand grip exercise, and bicycle ergometer exercise were carried out in middle-aged normotensive subjects (n=10) and in age-matched WHO stage I (n=23) and stage II (n=11) patients with essential hypertension. Mental arithmetic was associated with a greater rate of increase in plasma epinephrine than in norepinephrine, and handgrip exercise was associated with a greater rate of increase in plasma norepinephrine than in epinephrine in all three groups. Bicycle ergometer exercise caused a remarkable increase in plasma norepinephrine and a mild increase in plasma epinephrine in all three groups. In mental arithmetic tests, pressor responses of hypertensive patients were significantly greater than those of normotensives. The pressor response during mental tests was significantly correlated with the value of 24-hour BP variability in all subjects (r=0.56, p< 0.01). The pressor response to handgrip increased with the stage of hypertension. A good correlation existed between the pressor response to handgrip and the left ventricular mass index in the subjects (r=0.73, p < 0.001). There was no difference in the pressor response to ergometer exercise between any of the groups. The findings suggest that the pressor response to mental stress reflects BP variability and that the response to handgrip is correlated with target-organ disease associated with hypertension, especially the degree of cardiac hypertrophy.
Murakami et al. (Mon,) conducted a cross-sectional in Essential hypertension (n=44). Laboratory stressor testing (mental arithmetic, isometric handgrip, bicycle ergometer) vs. Normotensive subjects was evaluated on Correlation between pressor response to isometric handgrip exercise and left ventricular mass index (r = 0.73, p=<0.001). Pressor responses to mental stress correlated with 24-hour blood pressure variability (r=0.56), while responses to isometric handgrip correlated with left ventricular mass index (r=0.73).
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