Premium
Blood Pressure, HeartRate and Cardiovascular Reflexes in Hypertension
Author(s) -
Anigbogu Chikodi Nnanyelu,
Isichei C V,
Ajuluchukwu J N
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.20.4.a308-b
Subject(s) - medicine , blood pressure , baroreflex , heart rate , cardiology , sphygmomanometer , reflex , pulse pressure , diastole , anesthesia
We investigated the effects of hypertension on resting and reflex cardiovascular function. Blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR) and ECG were recorded in male and female control subjects and hypertensive patients. BP was measured using a sphygmomanometer. HR was obtained from the radial pulse or computed from the ECG. The systolic and diastolic pressures were higher in the hypertensive patients (160.96 ± 2.06 mmHg and 110.8 ± 1.95 mmHg respectively) compared with control subjects (119 ± 2.05 and 73.58 ± 1.09 mmHg; p<0.01). Pulse pressure and mean arterial BP were also higher in the hypertensive patients. Likewise, HR was higher in the hypertensive compared to the control groups (86.93 ± 2.83 vs 71 ± 1.35 bpm, p<0.01). ECG analysis showed that the intervals were lower in the controls than in the hypertensive group except for PR intervals (0.2 ± 0.01 vs 0.1 ± 0.00 sec). The amplitude of the waves was also lower in the control group than the hypertensive group. Cardiovascular response to exercise assessed from the post‐exercise recovery graph showed that aggregate recovery (6 min after) was lower in the hypertensive subjects (22% vs 28%, p<0.05) than in the controls. Thus suggesting that the baroreflex sensitivity was higher in the control than in the hypertensive subjects.