Submaximal Exercise Systolic Blood Pressure and Heart Rate at 20 Years of Follow-up: Correlates in the Framingham Heart Study.

J Am Heart Assoc
Authors
Abstract

BACKGROUND: Beyond their resting values, exercise responses in blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) may add prognostic information for cardiovascular disease (CVD). In cross-sectional studies, exercise BP and HR responses correlate with CVD risk factors; however, it is unclear which factors influence longitudinal changes in exercise responses over time, which is important for our understanding of the development of CVD.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We assessed BP and HR responses to low-level exercise tests (6-minute Bruce protocol) in 1231 Framingham Offspring participants (55% women) who underwent a routine treadmill test in 1979-1983 (baseline; mean age 39±8 years) that was repeated in 1998-2001 (follow-up; mean age 58±8 years). Adjusting for baseline exercise responses, we related the follow-up exercise responses to baseline CVD risk factors and to their changes between examinations. Compared with men, women had greater rise in exercise systolic (S)BP and HR at 20-year follow-up (both P

CONCLUSION: An adverse CVD risk factor profile in young adults and its worsening over time were associated with higher SBP and HR responses to low-level exercise in midlife. Maintaining or adopting a healthy risk factor profile may favorably impact the exercise responses over time.

Year of Publication
2016
Journal
J Am Heart Assoc
Volume
5
Issue
6
Date Published
2016 May 27
ISSN
2047-9980
URL
DOI
10.1161/JAHA.115.002821
PubMed ID
27233297
PubMed Central ID
PMC4937245
Links
Grant list
R01 HL131029 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States