Cardiovascular recovery from stress predicts longitudinal changes in bloodpressure

Cardiovascular reactivity and recovery were examined as predictors of blood pressure changes over 3 years. Blood pressure and heart rate readings were obtained from 73 men and women aged 18-20 years during cold pressor, menta l arithmetic, tourniquet ischemia, cycle exercise and step exercise tasks. Regression analyses indicated that after adjustment for initial blood press ure, initial age, initial body-mass index, sex., parental history of hypert ension, and length of follow-up, heightened heart rate reactivity to mental arithmetic was associated with increased follow-up systolic blood pressure (DeltaR(2) =0.04, P <0.05). Systolic blood pressure recovery from cold pre ssor and tourniquet ischemia were also positively related to follow-up syst olic blood pressure (DeltaR(2) = 0.04 and 0.04, respectively, P < 0.05) and remained so even after adjustment for the corresponding cardiovascular rea ctivity measures. These findings suggest that cardiovascular reactivity and recovery measures are modest predictors of longitudinal changes in blood p ressure. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.