The Influence of Race and Sex on the Peak Blood Pressure Response to Exercise

Hemodynamics during exercise is an important physiologic response that is associated with risk prediction and diagnosis of latent cardiovascular disease and independent of resting blood pressure (BP). Individuals who exhibit an exaggerated BP response to exercise, also known as exercise HTN (defined as a reading 90th percentile from relative normative data), have been shown to possess a 1.4 to 3.0 fold higher relative risk for cardiovascular events compared to subjects with a normal BP response to exercise (<90th percentile). The objective of this proposal is to characterize the acute BP response to maximum exercise in healthy individuals. In addition, racial differences in prevalence and incidence of hypertension (HTN) have been widely appreciated. The age-adjusted prevalence of HTN in black males and females was found to be 45% and 46%, respectively. This amounts to about a 10-12% higher rate in blacks compared to whites. This proposal will also explore racial differences between blacks and whites on the acute BP response to exercise. In addition, this proposal will also explore the effect of acute high intraluminal pressure on microvascular function in isolated resistance arterioles from sedentary black and white individuals.