Age and sex differences in cardiovascular reactivity to adrenergic agonists, mental stress and isometric exercise in normal subjects

In children, we studied noninvasively the cardiovascular stress responses, including changes over time of systolic blood pressure (SBP), heart rate (HR), and stroke volume (SV) in isometric handgrip (IHG) and mental arithmetic. Specifically, we asked whether 1) these cardiovascular stress responses were different for the two stress conditions in children, 2) these responses differed in boys and girls, and 3) the anthropometric variables related to these stress responses. SV differed significantly between IHG and mental arithmetic over the entire stress period. This may reflect higher systemic vascular resistance during IHG. HR in boys was lower than in girls over the entire period of stress in both stress tests. This observation cannot be attributed to differences in conditioning, because this should not influence responses to isometric or mental stress. A larger left ventricular mass was related to higher SVs. A marked relationship was found between HR and SBP and between HR and SV. No relationship was found between SBP and SV.

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Influence of age and sex on exercise cardiac output

Journal of Applied Physiology ◽

10.1152/jappl.1965.20.5.938 ◽

1965 ◽

Vol 20 (5) ◽

pp. 938-947 ◽

Cited By ~ 73

Author(s):

Margaret R. Becklake ◽

H. Frank ◽

G. R. Dagenais ◽

G. L. Ostiguy ◽

Carole A. Guzman

Keyword(s):

Heart Rate ◽

Sex Differences ◽

Cardiac Output ◽

Stroke Volume ◽

Age Differences ◽

Normal Subjects ◽

Age Effect ◽

Oxygen Pulse ◽

Oxygen Difference ◽

Age And Sex

Exercise cardiac output has been measured by an indirect Fick technique in 94 normal subjects (48 men and 46 women) whose ages ranged from 20 to 85 years. With increasing age, exercise cardiac output was found to be greater despite no such trend in oxygen uptake; in consequence, exercise arteriovenous oxygen difference decreased with age. These trends were seen in both sexes, though the age effects were apparent a decade earlier in men. In addition, in men the heart rate was lower and stroke volume higher with increasing age. By contrast, no age effect on exercise pulse rate was noted in women. When the sexes were compared, exercise cardiac output was higher in women of the younger two decades (20 to 39 years), a difference which was not apparent in subsequent decades. sex differences in exercise cardiac output; age differences in exercise cardiac output; stroke volume during exercise; oxygen pulse during exercise Submitted on January 13, 1965

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Sex Differences in Cardiovascular Reactivity

Journal of Psychophysiology ◽

10.1027/0269-8803.23.2.77 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 23 (2) ◽

pp. 77-84 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Matthew C. Whited ◽

Kevin T. Larkin

Keyword(s):

Blood Pressure ◽

Heart Rate ◽

Sex Differences ◽

Gender Roles ◽

Cardiovascular Reactivity ◽

Task Type ◽

Conflict Task ◽

Men And Women ◽

Conflicting Evidence ◽

Blood Pressure Responses

Sex differences in cardiovascular reactivity to stress are well documented, with some studies showing women having greater heart rate responses than men, and men having greater blood pressure responses than women, while other studies show conflicting evidence. Few studies have attended to the gender relevance of tasks employed in these studies. This study investigated cardiovascular reactivity to two interpersonal stressors consistent with different gender roles to determine whether response differences exist between men and women. A total of 26 men and 31 women were assigned to either a traditional male-oriented task that involved interpersonal conflict (Conflict Task) or a traditional female-oriented task that involved comforting another person (Comfort Task). Results demonstrated that women exhibited greater heart rate reactions than men independent of the task type, and that men did not display a higher reactivity than women on any measure. These findings indicate that sex of participant was more important than gender relevance of the task in eliciting sex differences in cardiovascular responding.

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