Objective:
We investigated long-term outcomes associated with hypertensive response to exercise in patients with chest pain referred for stress echocardiography.
Methods:
Records of 404 patients with normal baseline LV systolic function (45% females, mean age 60+/-11 years, baseline SBP 136+/-20 mmHg, 26% with CAD, 4% with CHF, 39% with hypertension, 13% with diabetes mellitus, 5% with peripheral vascular disease, 21% with history of smoking or active smoking, 43% on beta-blockers, 23% on ACE-inhibitors/ARBs) referred for chest pain evaluation with stress echocardiography at a single tertiary care center were reviewed. Demographics, clinical data, and outcomes were collected. Median length of followup was 35+/-0.3 months. Patients were divided into four groups depending on their maximum blood pressure during exercise (greater or less than 180mmHg) and whether they achieved their age-adjusted target heart rate.
Results:
Contrary to the expectations, hypertensive response to exercise was not associated with the increased mortality (Table). Instead, lack of blood pressure augmentation during exercise and low double product were predictive of increased mortality. History of CHF (p=0.0003) and/or PVD (p=0.001) were the strongest predictors of failure to augment blood pressure during stress testing.
Conclusions:
Failure to augment systolic blood pressure during exercise appears to be associated with increased mortality. Although ischemia on echocardiography and reduced exercise capacity are the stress test outcomes traditionally associated with poor prognosis, failure to augment blood pressure during exercise may be an important predictor of mortality as well. Additional studies of this subject are needed.
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