Peripheral Vascular Resistance Limits Exercise Functional Capacity of Mild Hypertensives

Abstract

To evaluate the physiological basis for suboptimal peak exercise oxygen consumption (VO₂p) observed in the early stage of hypertension, 25 WHO Stage I hypertensive men with normal left ventricular mass and 10 healthy control subjects of equivalent age underwent the maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test with contemporary measurement of cardiac output with Tc99m angiocardiography. At peak exercise hypertensive patients had lower VO₂p (p < 0.045) and cardiac output (p < 0.014) and higher vascular resis tance (p < 0.010) than controls. At multiple regression analysis VO₂ was positively related to cardiac output in controls (r = 0.80, p < 0.02), whereas in hypertensives the best (negative) correlation was observed with peripheral vascular resistance (r = -0.72, p < 0.04). Thus reduced cardiopulmonary function during physical exercise in hyperten sives seems to be mainly related to impaired peripheral vascular autoregulation.

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