BP reactivity to public speaking in stage 1 hypertension: Influence of different task scenarios

Abstract

Aim. To investigate the blood pressure (BP) reaction to public speaking performed according to different emotionally distressing scenarios in stage 1 hypertension. Methods. We assessed 64 hypertensive and 30 normotensive subjects. They performed three speech tasks with neutral, anger and anxiety scenarios. BP was assessed with the Finometer beat-to-beat non-invasive recording system throughout the test procedure. Results. For all types of speech, the systolic BP response was greater in the hypertensive than the normotensive subjects (all p < 0.001). At repeated-measures analysis of covariate (R-M ANCOVA), a significant group-by-time interaction was found for all scenarios (p ≤ 0.001). For the diastolic BP response, the between-group difference was significant for the task with anxiety scenario (p < 0.05). At R-M ANCOVA, a group-by-time interaction of borderline statistical significance was found for the speech with anxiety content (p = 0.053) but not for the speeches with neutral or anger content. Within the hypertensive group, the diastolic BP increments during the speeches with anxiety and anger scenarios were greater than those during the speech with neutral scenario (both p < 0.001). Conclusions. These data indicate that reactivity to public speaking is increased in stage 1 hypertension. A speech with anxiety or anger scenario elicits a greater diastolic BP reaction than tasks with neutral content.

Key Words::

• Anger
• anxiety
• hypertension
• psycho-social task
• speech
• stress

Acknowledgements

No other persons have made substantial contributions to this manuscript. The study was funded by the University of Padova, Padova, Italy, and from the Associazione “18 Maggio 1370”, San Daniele del Friuli, Italy.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflict of interest for the present study.