Age-Related Differences in Systolic Blood Pressure Recovery after a Maximal-Effort Exercise Test in Non-Athletic Adults

The present study investigated the rate of systolic blood pressure recovery (SBPR) amongst three male age groups. Ninety-six apparently healthy, non-athletic adult males (48 young [23.91±4.58 years], 32 middle-aged [41.78±5.98 years] and 16 elderly [62.87±2.57 years]) participated in the study. Subjects performed a maximal-effort ergometer exercise test. Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) was measured during the exercise protocol; heart rate (HR) and SBP were measured before exercise (after 10 and 15 minutes of rest), during exercise (at 2-minute intervals), and at the first minute of post-exercise recovery and subsequently at 2-minute intervals until the recovery of SBP. Results showed that third-minute SBP ratio relative to 1 minute of recovery (SBPRy) was significantly lower (p<0.01; p<0.001) in the young (0.87± 0.06) when compared to middle aged (0.91 ± 0.05) and elderly adults (0.93 ± 0.04). Using bivariate correlation analysis, VO2max and %HR decline at 1 minute and 3 minutes of recovery, correlated with SBPRy in all age groups but after controlling for their confounders, only %HR decline in 3 min remained significantly correlated with SBPR in all the age groups. This study therefore showed age differences in SBPR after exercise with younger adults indicating faster recovery than older adults. After controlling for factors influencing SBPR, %HR decline in 3 min of recovery appeared to be a stronger contributor to age differences in SBPR than %HR decline in 1 min and VO2max. The reported data indicate the need to take age into account when interpreting SBPR after exercise during physical assessment of healthy individuals.