Background: Although many observers consider the cardiovascular risk associated with isolated prehypertension to be low and not worth pharmacological treating, the cardiovascular disease rate is increased among individuals within this blood pressure stratum.
Methods: We performed Doppler echocardiography and submaximal bicycle ergometry in 20 nonsmoking sedentary prehypertensive subjects and 20 age- and sex-matched nonsmoking sedentary normotensive subjects, and investigated the association between the systolic blood pressure response to exercise (SBPRE) and hypertensive target organ damage. An exaggerated SBPRE (E-SBPRE) and a normal SBPRE (N-SBPRE) were diagnosed using the mean +2 standard deviations of systolic blood pressure at 100 W in normotensives.
Results: Body mass index was similar in the two groups. Resting blood pressure and systemic vascular resistance were higher in prehypertensives. Almost half the latter had an E-SBPRE. There were no differences in age, gender, and body mass index between normotensives and prehypertensives with an E-SBPRE or a N-SBPRE. Resting blood pressure and systemic vascular resistance were similarly increased in prehypertensives with an E-SBPRE and a N-SBPRE vs normotensives. Compared with normotensives, prehypertensives with an E-SBPRE showed: (a) a significantly greater left ventricular relative wall thickness, mostly due to a smaller cavity, (b) a significantly longer left ventricular isovolumic relaxation time, and (c) a significantly greater global arterial stiffness, as estimated by the pulse pressure/left ventricular stroke volume ratio.
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that an E-SBPRE is frequent among prehypertensive subjects and is associated with cardiovascular remodeling, which may herald cardiovascular disease.