Exercise Tolerance and Blood Pressure Response to Exercise Testing in Children and Adolescents After Renal Transplantation

The aim of the study was to assess exercise tolerance and blood pressure (BP) response to treadmill exercise in children after renal transplantation. Forty-five children were selected (29 males and 16 females) whose mean age was 14.3 ± 4.2 years. All children had Hb ≥ 10 g/dl and creatinine clearance ≥40 ml/min/1.73 m². They were at least 6 months posttransplantation and were on triple immunosuppressive therapy. Twenty-seven were also on various antihypertensive medications. Each underwent clinical examination and measurement of BP, both at rest and during exercise testing on treadmill. The test was stopped on muscular fatigue or exhaustion. The patients were divided into two groups: those off (A) or on (B) antihypertensive therapy. When compared to a population of healthy children the patients had reduced exercise tolerance (10.1 ± 2.1 vs 15.1 ± 1.7 min, p < 0.001) (67 ± 16%), increased heart rate (174 ± 19 vs 161 ± 19 beats/min, p < 0.001) (109 ± 15%), and increased maximum systolic BP (150 ± 26 vs 134 ± 13 mmHg, p < 0.001) (113 ± 19%) at comparable workloads. Within the two patient groups, significant differences were observed during exercise testing for maximum heart rate, which was lower in group B (p= 0.03), and maximum systolic BP, which was higher in group A (p= 0.04). Our study confirms that children and adolescents on immunosuppressive therapy after renal transplantation have a hypertensive response during exercise, probably related to medication-induced peripheral vascular tone.