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Systolic Blood Pressure Response to Exercise in Endurance Athletes in Relation to Oxygen Uptake, Work Rate and Normative Values

Carlén, Anna ; Eklund, Gustaf ; Andersson, August ; Carlhäll, Carl Johan ; Ekström, Magnus LU orcid and Hedman, Kristofer (2022) In Journal of cardiovascular development and disease 9(7).
Abstract

Work rate has a direct impact on the systolic blood pressure (SBP) during aerobic exercise, which may be challenging in the evaluation of the SBP response in athletes reaching high work rates. We aimed to investigate the exercise SBP response in endurance athletes in relation to oxygen uptake (VO2), work rate and to recent reference equations for exercise SBP in the general population. Endurance athletes with a left-ventricular end-diastolic diameter above the reference one performed a maximal bicycle cardiopulmonary exercise test. The increase in SBP during exercise was divided by the increase in VO2 (SBP/VO2 slope) and in Watts, respectively (SBP/W slope). The maximum SBP (SBPmax) and the... (More)

Work rate has a direct impact on the systolic blood pressure (SBP) during aerobic exercise, which may be challenging in the evaluation of the SBP response in athletes reaching high work rates. We aimed to investigate the exercise SBP response in endurance athletes in relation to oxygen uptake (VO2), work rate and to recent reference equations for exercise SBP in the general population. Endurance athletes with a left-ventricular end-diastolic diameter above the reference one performed a maximal bicycle cardiopulmonary exercise test. The increase in SBP during exercise was divided by the increase in VO2 (SBP/VO2 slope) and in Watts, respectively (SBP/W slope). The maximum SBP (SBPmax) and the SBP/W slope were compared to the predicted values. In total, 27 athletes (59% men) were included; mean age, 40 ± 10 years; mean VO2max, 50 ± 5 mL/kg/min. The mean SBP/VO2 slope was 29.8 ± 10.2 mm Hg/L/min, and the mean SBP/W slope was 0.27 ± 0.08 mm Hg/W. Compared to the predicted normative values, athletes had, on average, a 12.2 ± 17.6 mm Hg higher SBPmax and a 0.12 ± 0.08 mm Hg/W less steep SBP/W slope (p < 0.01 and p < 0.001, respectively). In conclusion, the higher SBPmax values and the less steep SBP/W slope highlight the importance of considering work rate when interpreting the SBP response in endurance athletes and suggest a need for specific normative values in athletes to help clinicians distinguish physiologically high maximal blood pressure from a pathological blood pressure response.

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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
blood pressure, endurance athletes, exercise, oxygen uptake, SBP/VO slope, SBP/W slope, work rate
in
Journal of cardiovascular development and disease
volume
9
issue
7
article number
227
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • scopus:85135594795
  • pmid:35877589
ISSN
2308-3425
DOI
10.3390/jcdd9070227
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
4a8938bd-6c5c-4ed2-a514-acf94c88a42e
date added to LUP
2022-10-06 11:10:47
date last changed
2024-06-13 19:56:04
@article{4a8938bd-6c5c-4ed2-a514-acf94c88a42e,
  abstract     = {{<p>Work rate has a direct impact on the systolic blood pressure (SBP) during aerobic exercise, which may be challenging in the evaluation of the SBP response in athletes reaching high work rates. We aimed to investigate the exercise SBP response in endurance athletes in relation to oxygen uptake (VO<sub>2</sub>), work rate and to recent reference equations for exercise SBP in the general population. Endurance athletes with a left-ventricular end-diastolic diameter above the reference one performed a maximal bicycle cardiopulmonary exercise test. The increase in SBP during exercise was divided by the increase in VO<sub>2</sub> (SBP/VO<sub>2</sub> slope) and in Watts, respectively (SBP/W slope). The maximum SBP (SBP<sub>max</sub>) and the SBP/W slope were compared to the predicted values. In total, 27 athletes (59% men) were included; mean age, 40 ± 10 years; mean VO<sub>2max</sub>, 50 ± 5 mL/kg/min. The mean SBP/VO<sub>2</sub> slope was 29.8 ± 10.2 mm Hg/L/min, and the mean SBP/W slope was 0.27 ± 0.08 mm Hg/W. Compared to the predicted normative values, athletes had, on average, a 12.2 ± 17.6 mm Hg higher SBP<sub>max</sub> and a 0.12 ± 0.08 mm Hg/W less steep SBP/W slope (p &lt; 0.01 and p &lt; 0.001, respectively). In conclusion, the higher SBP<sub>max</sub> values and the less steep SBP/W slope highlight the importance of considering work rate when interpreting the SBP response in endurance athletes and suggest a need for specific normative values in athletes to help clinicians distinguish physiologically high maximal blood pressure from a pathological blood pressure response.</p>}},
  author       = {{Carlén, Anna and Eklund, Gustaf and Andersson, August and Carlhäll, Carl Johan and Ekström, Magnus and Hedman, Kristofer}},
  issn         = {{2308-3425}},
  keywords     = {{blood pressure; endurance athletes; exercise; oxygen uptake; SBP/VO slope; SBP/W slope; work rate}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Journal of cardiovascular development and disease}},
  title        = {{Systolic Blood Pressure Response to Exercise in Endurance Athletes in Relation to Oxygen Uptake, Work Rate and Normative Values}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcdd9070227}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/jcdd9070227}},
  volume       = {{9}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}