Blood pressure response to exercise in young athletes aged 10 to 18 years

• Published in: Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism Vol. 41; no. 1; pp. 41 - 48
• Main Authors: Szmigielska, Katarzyna, Szmigielska-Kapłon, Anna, Jegier, Anna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Canada NRC Research Press 01.01.2016; Canadian Science Publishing NRC Research Press
• Subjects: Adolescent; Athletes; Biological control systems; Blood pressure; Blood Pressure - physiology; blood pressure values; Body Height; Body Mass Index; Body Weight; Child; Exercise; exercise physiology; Exercise Test; Female; Heart Rate; Humans; hypertension à l’effort; hypertensive response to exercise; Linear Models; Male; Measurement; Multivariate Analysis; Observations; Physiological aspects; physiologie de l’exercice; Reference Values; Running; Teenagers; valeurs de pression sanguine; blood pressure values; hypertensive response to exercise; hypertension à l’effort; physiologie de l’exercice; exercise physiology; valeurs de pression sanguine
• ISSN: 1715-5312; 1715-5320
• DOI: 10.1139/apnm-2015-0101

The aim of the study was to determine arterial blood pressure response to exercise in young athletes. The study group comprised 711 young athletes (457 boys, 254 girls) aged 10 to 18 years (mean 13.41 ± 3.12 years) who had been training for an average of 7.62 ± 4.2 h per week for an average of 4.01 ± 2.5 years. Participants with elevated arterial blood pressure above the 90th percentile at rest were excluded from investigation. A symptom-limited, multistage exercise test to exhaustion was performed using a Monark cycle ergometer. Arterial blood pressure was measured with an aneroid manometer in the third minute of each stage of the test. Mean systolic arterial blood pressure during peak exercise was significantly higher in boys than in girls: 183.21 ± 27.97 mm Hg and 170.97 ± 21.4 mm Hg, respectively (p = 0.03). Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that age and workload had significant effects on arterial blood pressure during the test. Systolic arterial blood pressure during the exercise can be described with the following equations: boys, SBPex (mm Hg) = –1.92 × age (years) + 0.55 × workload (W) + 120.84; girls, SBPex (mm Hg) = –0.88 × age (years) + 0.48 × workload (W) + 111.22. The study results describe reference values of arterial blood pressure during the exercise test. The presented equations and figures can help to assess whether the arterial blood pressure at each stage of the exercise test exceeds the normal range or not.