Delayed blood pressure recovery ratio might indicate increased arterial stiffness in hypertensive patients with reduced aerobic exercise capacity

Figures & data

Table I. Study populations’ characteristics.

Characteristics	Untreated hypertensives	Normotensives	p	Treated hypertensives with delayed BPRR	Treated hypertensives with normal BPRR	p*
n	84	54		18	66
Age (years)	50 ± 11	47 ± 13	0.14	53 ± 11	50 ± 11	0.29
Males (%)	56 (67%)	28 (52%)	0.08	12 (66%)	44 (67%)	0.67
Weight	83 ± 14	79 ± 17	0.11	85 ± 12	82 ± 14	0.45
BMI (kg/m^2)	29 ± 4	27 ± 4	< 0.05	29 ± 3	29 ± 4	0.77
BSA (m^2)	1.9 ± 0.3	1.87 ± 0.4	0.21	2.01 ± 0.2	1.93 ± 0.3	0.27
Current smokers (%)	24 (29%)	13(24%)	0.67	6 (33%)	18 (27%)	0.40
Total cholesterol (mg/dl)	214 ± 30	206 ± 42	0.32	216 ± 31	214 ± 30	0.83
Triglycerides (mg/dl)	116 ± 57	118 ± 45	0.86	114 ± 28	117 ± 62	0.89
LDL (mg/dl)	139 ± 27	130 ± 34	0.25	145 ± 27	137 ± 27	0.37
Office SBP (mmHg)	148 ± 18	131 ± 15	< 0.001	135 ± 15	128 ± 13	< 0.05
Office DBP (mmHg)	90 ± 11	78 ± 9	< 0.001	80 ± 5	78 ± 9	0.42
Office PP (mmHg)	55 ± 18	48 ± 16	< 0.05	45 ± 7	42 ± 6	0.15
24-hour SBP (mmHg)	138 ± 9	121 ± 6	< 0.001	–	–	–
24-hour DBP (mmHg)	90 ± 11	76 ± 5	< 0.001	–	–	–
24-hour PP (mmHg)	50 ± 7	45 ± 5	< 0.001	–	–	–
Heart rate (bpm)	76 ± 7	75 ± 9	0.44	82 ± 14	81 ± 15	0.54

BPRR, blood pressure recovery ratio; BMI, body mass index; BSA, body surface area; LDL, low-density lipoprotein; SBP, systolic blood pressure; DBP, diastolic blood pressure; PP, pulse pressure; p, statistics between hypertensives and normotensives; p*, statistics between hypertensives with normal BPRR and delayed BPRR.

Table II. Cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) parameters and pulse wave velocity (PWV) measurements in hypertensive groups.

Characteristics	Hypertension status		BPRR status
	Well-controlled hypertensives	Normotensives	Hypertensives with delayed BPRR	Hypertensives with normal BPRR
n	84	54	18	66
Load (watt/min)	139 ± 44	139 ± 54	140 ± 55	138 ± 42
Mets	7 ± 1	7 ± 2	7 ± 2	7 ± 1
VO2PEAK (ml/min)	1975 ± 540	2000 ± 668	2063 ± 656	1951 ± 507
% VO2PEAK predicted	90 ± 14	93 ± 14	91 ± 11	90 ± 15
VO2PEAK/kg (ml/kg/min)	23.9 ± 5	25.1 ± 6	24.7 ± 6	23.7 ± 5
RER	1.2 ± 0.1	1.1 ± 0.1	1.1 ± 0.1	1.1 ± 0.1
HRPRE (beats/min)	82 ± 14	78 ± 14	82 ± 14	81 ± 15
HRPEAK (beats/min)	160 ± 14	160 ± 14	158 ± 14	160 ± 14
SBPPRE (mmHg)	129 ± 14	125 ± 13	135 ± 15	128 ± 13*
SBPPEAK (mmHg)	186 ± 18	179 ± 21*	181 ± 15	187 ± 18
SBPREC (mmHg)	148 ± 18	140 ± 17**	163 ± 14	144 ± 17***
SBPREC ratio	0.80 ± 0.07	0.79 ± 0.1	0.90 ± 0.02	0.77 ± 0.06***
VE/VCO2 slope	29 ± 4	30 ± 6	28 ± 5	29 ± 4
PWV	11.1 ± 2.1	9.3 ± 1.6***	11.6 ± 2.3	10.9 ± 2

BPRR, blood pressure recovery ratio; Mets, metabolic equivalent; VO₂, peak oxygen consumption; RER, respiratory exchange ratio; HR, heart rate; SBP, systolic blood pressure; PRE, pre-exercise; REC, 3 min recovery; PWV, pulse wave velocity. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001 between subjects in the same blood pressure category.

Figure 1. Relationship of pulse wave velocity (PWV) with maximum oxygen consumption (VO_2PEAK) in hypertensive patients with delayed blood pressure recovery ratio.