Peripheral vascular resistance limits exercise functional capacity of mild hypertensives.

Abstract: To evaluate the physiological basis for suboptimal peak exercise oxygen consumption ((V) over dot O(2)p) observed in the early stage of hypertension, 25 WHO Stage I hypertensive men with normal left ventricular mass and 10 healthy control subjects of equivalent age underwent the maximal cardiopulmonary exercise test with contemporary measurement of cardiac output with Tc99m angiocardiography. At peak exercise hypertensive patients had lower (V) over dot O(2)p (p < 0.045) and cardiac output (p < 0.014) and higher vascular resistance (p < 0.010) than controls. At multiple regression analysis (V) over dot O(2)p was positively related to cardiac output in controls (r = 0.80, p < 0.02), whereas in hypertensives the best (negative) correlation was observed with peripheral vascular resistance (r = -0.72, p < 0.04). Thus reduced cardiopulmonary function during physical exercise in hypertensives seems to be mainly related to impaired peripheral vascular autoregulation.