Hypertension During and After Exercise Predicts Poor Cardiovascular Outcomes

In a study published today in the Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers show that blood pressure changes during exercise can be an important predictor of future cardiovascular health.

Using data from the Framingham Heart Study, Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine examined the relationship between hypertension during sand after submaximal exercise with the risks of future hypertension, cardiovascular disease or death.

According to the study, the authors found that both higher exercise systolic blood pressure (SBP) and exercise diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were associated with a greater risk of developing hypertension. Additionally, both delayed SBP and DBP recovery after exercise were associated with higher risk of cardiovascular disease and death.

"The way our blood pressure changes during and after exercise provides important information on whether we will develop disease in the future; this may help investigators evaluate whether this information can be used to better identify people who are at higher risk of developing hypertension and CVD, or dying later in life," explained corresponding author Vanessa Xanthakis, PhD, assistant professor of medicine and biostatistics at BUSM and an Investigator for the Framingham Heart Study.

This can be important information that may help individuals make heart-healthy changes sooner rather than later,  or help patients and their physicians tailor decisions about the appropriate level of training for an individual’s personal cardiac fitness. 

Earlier this year the American Heart Association reported that the benefits of exercise could be lost in extreme conditions.

American Heart Association Says Like Medicine, Benefits of Exercise Are Dose Dependent
 

Association of Blood Pressure Responses to Submaximal Exercise in Midlife With the Incidence of Cardiovascular Outcomes and All‐Cause Mortality: The Framingham Heart Study Joowon Lee PhD , Ramachandran S. Vasan MD , and Vanessa Xanthakis PhD vanessax@bu.edu