Exercise response in young women with borderline hypertension

We compared the response to dynamic exercise in 157 females (mean age 19 +/- 3 years) with borderline hypertension (BH) to findings in 105 normotensive controls. Near-maximal physical working capacity was 90 +/- 17 W in females with BH and 71 +/- 23 W for the controls (p less than 0.001). Mean heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and pulse pressure levels both at rest and at exercise were significantly higher in BH patients (p less than 0.001 for all). Mean change between rest and exercise for all the above parameters was not significantly different among BH patients compared with controls. Nonspecific ST-T changes at rest (p less than 0.001) and exercise (p less than 0.005) were more common and mean corrected QT interval was significantly longer (p less than 0.001) in BH patients. The parallel exercise response that we found in BH and normotensives would not appear to substantiate the view that ergometry is particularly useful as a modality for diagnosing hypertension in young females.