Does elevated exercise blood pressure predict future cardiovascular death in asymptomatic individuals?
A Bruce stage 2 exercise blood pressure >180/90 mm Hg can identify asymptomatic, nonhypertensive individuals who are at an increased risk for future cardiovascular death.
Abstract: Background— Individuals with exaggerated exercise blood pressure (BP) tend to develop future hypertension. It is controversial whether they have higher risk of death from cardiovascular disease (CVD). Methods and Results— A total of 6578 asymptomatic Lipid Research Clinics Prevalence Study participants (45% women; mean age, 46 years; 74% with untreated baseline BP 180/90 versus ≤180/90 mm Hg carried increased risk independent of rest BP and risk factors (adjusted hazard ratio for systolic, 1.96 1.40 to 2.74, P 180/90 mm Hg identified nonhypertensive individuals at higher risk of CVD death.
Weiss et al. (Tue,) studied this question.