Parental Hypertension and Cardiovascular Response to Cognitive and Isometric Challenge

ABSTRACT The purposes of this investigation were to contrast the cardiovascular responses of sons of hypertensive and normotensive parents to tasks involving cognitive and isometric challenge, and lo examine the relationship of individual differences in heart rate (HR) reactivity to baseline blood pressure (BP) measurements. Thirty‐six male, undergraduate volunteers (18 with and 18 without a parental history of hypertension) were scheduled for two, 1‐hr experimental sessions (Days I and II). On Day 1, HR and BP measurements were obtained while subjects performed each of three laboratory tasks: a difficult test in concept formation, serial subtraction, and a sustained handgrip at 30% of maximum voluntary contraction. Each task lasted 3 min and was preceded by a 3‐min baseline interval. On Day II, subjects were instructed to relax quietly while baseline measures of HR and BP were recorded. Relative to sons of normotensive parents, offspring of hypertensives exhibited higher mean Systolic BPs during all task periods; no corresponding group differences were observed on either Day I or Day II baseline recordings. Unlike SBP, Diastolic BP measurements did not vary reliably by parental hypertensive/normotensive status. Although the mean HRs of sons of hypertensives were significantly higher than in offspring of normotensives, these differences obtained uniformly across both the baseline and task intervals. Among subjects identified as High HR reactors during the two cognitive tasks, sons of hypertensive parents exhibited Day II baseline SBPs about 9 mmHg higher than did subjects without a parental history of hypertension. Among subjects identified as Low HR reactors, baseline SBPs did not differ reliably between sons of hypertensive and normotensive parents.