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

Figures & data

Table I. Clinical characteristics of the study subjects.

Variable	Normotensives, n = 30	Hypertensives, n = 64	Unadjusted p-value	p-value adjusted for age and sex
Male gender, n (%)	25 (83.3)	53 (82.8)	0.95	–
Age (years)	32.1 ± 7.7	29.2 ± 9.5	0.076	–
Body mass index (kg/m^2)	24.3 ± 2.6	25.3 ± 3.6	0.14	0.09
Screening systolic blood pressure (mmHg)	119.4 ± 9.5	142.9 ± 9.8	<0.001	<0.001
Screening diastolic blood pressure (mmHg)	71.5 ± 8.5	90.2 ± 6.5	<0.001	<0.001
Screening heart rate (beats/min)	71.4 ± 9.0	73.2 ± 9.6	0.32	0.44
Systolic blood pressure at baseline (mmHg)	119.8 ± 9.6	136.1 ± 17.3	<0.001	<0.001
Diastolic blood pressure at baseline (mmHg)	71.6 ± 8.4	80.7 ± 9.3	<0.001	<0.001

Values are given as mean ± SD.

Figure 1. Blood pressure reaction to public speaking (test – baseline) with three different types of scenario in the hypertensive subjects and a group of normotensive subjects of control. Data are adjusted for age, sex, body mass index and baseline blood pressure. NT indicates normotensive subjects of control; HT, hypertensive subjects; Neu, neutral content; Anx, anxiety content; Ang, anger content. p-values are related to comparisons within the hypertensive subjects. *p < 0.001, †p < 0.01, ‡p = 0.036 vs NT.