Male professional athletes displayed a significantly lower systolic blood pressure to workload (SBP/W) slope (0.34 vs. 0.53 mmHg/W) and peak SBP/W ratio than female athletes during exercise testing.
Cross-Sectional (n=72)
No
Are there sex differences in workload-indexed blood pressure response and vascular function among professional athletes during clinical exercise testing?
Female professional athletes exhibit a steeper systolic blood pressure response relative to workload compared to males, a difference that is not predicted by resting vascular function parameters.
Absolute Event Rate: 0.34% vs 0.53%
p-value: p=<0.001
Abstract Purpose Sex differences in blood pressure (BP) regulation at rest have been attributed to differences in vascular function. Further, arterial stiffness predicts an exaggerated blood pressure response to exercise (BPR) in healthy young adults. However, the relationship of vascular function to the workload-indexed BPR and potential sex differences in athletes are unknown. Methods We examined 47 male (21.6 ± 1.7 years) and 25 female (21.1 ± 2 years) athletes in this single-center pilot study. We assessed vascular function at rest, including systolic blood pressure (SBP). Further, we determined the SBP/W slope, the SBP/MET slope, and the SBP/W ratio at peak exercise during cycling ergometry. Results Male athletes had a lower central diastolic blood pressure (57 ± 9.5 vs. 67 ± 9.5 mmHg, p 0.05), and the SBP/MET slope (5.7 ± 1.8 vs. 5.1 ± 1.6 mmHg/MET, p = 0.158) were not different. The SBP/W slope (0.34 ± 0.12 vs. 0.53 ± 0.19 mmHg/W) and the peak SBP/W ratio (0.61 ± 0.12 vs. 0.95 ± 0.17 mmHg/W) were markedly lower in males than in females ( p < 0.001). Conclusion Male athletes displayed a lower SBP/W slope and peak SBP/W ratio than females, whereas the SBP/MET slope was not different between the sexes. Vascular functional parameters were not able to predict the workload-indexed BPR in males and females.
Bauer et al. (Fri,) conducted a cross-sectional in Healthy professional athletes (n=72). Male sex vs. Female sex was evaluated on SBP/W slope (mmHg/W) (p=<0.001). Male professional athletes displayed a significantly lower systolic blood pressure to workload (SBP/W) slope (0.34 vs. 0.53 mmHg/W) and peak SBP/W ratio than female athletes during exercise testing.