Consequences of impaired arterial baroreflexes in essential hypertension: effects on pressor responses, plasma noradrenaline and blood pressure variability

62 untreated patients with essential hypertension, including 42 with WHO stage I (without ECG or radiographic evidence of left ventricular enlargement) and 20 with WHO stage II (with clinical findings of cardiac adaptation).

Assessment of arterial baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) for heart rate via phenylephrine-induced increase in blood pressure.

Haemodynamic changes during mental arithmetic, reaction time test, isometric and bicycle exercise; plasma noradrenaline (PNA) concentrations at rest and during exercise; and variability of ambulatory intra-arterial blood pressure.surrogate