Gender differences in cardiovascular responses to the cold hand pressor test and facial cooling

1994 ◽  
Vol 72 (10) ◽  
pp. 1193-1199 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. D. Kilgour ◽  
J. Carvalho

To test the hypothesis that changes in systemic vascular resistance (SVR) contribute to the differences in arterial blood pressure responses between men and women to local cold pressor tests, nine normotensive men (25.9 ± 5.9 years old) and women (24.4 ± 5.9 years old) performed the cold hand pressor test (CPT; 6 min in 5 °C water) in the supine position. A subgroup of men (n = 5) and women (n = 5) from the CPT were exposed to 6 min of facial cooling (FC) by circulating cold water (5 °C) through a perfusion mask. Using standard auscultatory techniques, pre-experimental systolic and diastolic blood pressures were found to be significantly higher (p ≤ 0.05) in males than females. During the initial 2 min of CPT and FC, both males and females experienced similar relative increases in pressure. Thereafter, only the males maintained an elevated pressor response, whereas the females progressively declined. The gender-related trends in blood pressure can be explained by differences in SVR, with the males exhibiting significantly greater changes in SVR than females during min 4–6 in CPT. Heart rate increased (p ≤ 0.05) in both groups, with the greater rise occurring in females at each minute of CPT. Throughout FC, the changes in SVR were similar between groups, with the exception of the 6-min value being greater than baseline in men but not women. No differences in heart rate or cardiac output were observed between groups during FC. In general, the results indicate that men respond with greater and more prolonged peripheral adjustments (e.g., rise in SVR), whereas females are more like "cardiac" responders, with greater increases in heart rate and an attenuated blood pressure response to CPT.Key words: cold pressor test, facial cooling, gender, systemic vascular resistance, heart rate.

1993 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 303-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Weise ◽  
Dominique Laude ◽  
Arlette Girard ◽  
Philippe Zitoun ◽  
Jean-Philippe Siché ◽  
...  

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piyush Kumar Tripathi ◽  
Kishor Patwardhan ◽  
Girish Singh

According to Ayurveda, the native Indian system of healthcare, threeDoshas, namely,Vata,Pitta, andKapha, are the basic mutually reciprocal mechanisms that are responsible for the maintenance of homeostasis in human beings. Ayurveda classifies entire human population into seven constitutional types(Prakriti), based on the dominance of any single or a combination of two or threeDoshas. Considering the fact that, in the recent past there have been several studies that have proposed some important genetic, biochemical and haematological bases forPrakriti, we conducted the present study in 90 randomly selected clinically healthy volunteers belonging to dual constitutional types (Dvandvaja Prakriti) to evaluate the variability of heart rate and arterial blood pressure in response to specific postural changes, exercise, and cold pressor test. The results of this study, in general, suggest that these basic cardiovascular responses do not vary significantly as per the dual constitutional types. However, we noted a significant fall in the diastolic blood pressure immediately after performing the isotonic exercise for five minutes, inVata-Kaphaindividuals in comparison to the other two groups, namely,Pitta-KaphaandVata-Pitta.


2010 ◽  
Vol 109 (5) ◽  
pp. 1354-1359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Cui ◽  
Manabu Shibasaki ◽  
David A. Low ◽  
David M. Keller ◽  
Scott L. Davis ◽  
...  

The mechanisms by which heat stress impairs the control of blood pressure leading to compromised orthostatic tolerance are not thoroughly understood. A possible mechanism may be an attenuated blood pressure response to a given increase in sympathetic activity. This study tested the hypothesis that whole body heating attenuates the blood pressure response to a non-baroreflex-mediated sympathoexcitatory stimulus. Ten healthy subjects were instrumented for the measurement of integrated muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), heart rate, sweat rate, and forearm skin blood flow. Subjects were exposed to a cold pressor test (CPT) by immersing a hand in an ice water slurry for 3 min while otherwise normothermic and while heat stressed (i.e., increase core temperature ∼0.7°C via water-perfused suit). Mean responses from the final minute of the CPT were evaluated. In both thermal conditions CPT induced significant increases in MSNA and MAP without altering heart rate. Although the increase in MSNA to the CPT was similar between thermal conditions (normothermia: Δ14.0 ± 2.6; heat stress: Δ19.1 ± 2.6 bursts/min; P = 0.09), the accompanying increase in MAP was attenuated when subjects were heat stressed (normothermia: Δ25.6 ± 2.3, heat stress: Δ13.4 ± 3.0 mmHg; P < 0.001). The results demonstrate that heat stress can attenuate the pressor response to a sympathoexcitatory stimulus.


1985 ◽  
Vol 69 (5) ◽  
pp. 533-540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianfranco Parati ◽  
Guido Pomidossi ◽  
Agustin Ramirez ◽  
Bruno Cesana ◽  
Giuseppe Mancia

1. In man evaluation of neural cardiovascular regulation makes use of a variety of tests which address the excitatory and reflex inhibitory neural influences that control circulation. Because interpretation of these tests is largely based on the magnitude of the elicited haemodynamic responses, their reproducibility in any given subject is critical. 2. In 39 subjects with continuous blood pressure (intra-arterial catheter) and heart rate monitoring we measured (i) the blood pressure and heart rate rises during hand-grip and cold-pressor test, (ii) the heart rate changes occurring during baroreceptor stimulation and deactivation by injection of phenylephrine and trinitroglycerine, and (iii) the heart rate and blood pressure changes occurring with alteration in carotid baroreceptor activity by a neck chamber. Each test was carefully standardized and performed at 30 min intervals for a total of six times in each subject. 3. The results showed that the responses to any test were clearly different from one another and that this occurred in all subjects studied. For the group as a whole the average response variability (coefficient of variation) ranged from 10.2% for the blood pressure response to carotid baroreceptor stimulation to 44.2% for the heart rate response to cold-pressor test. The variability of the responses was not related to basal blood pressure or heart rate, nor to the temporal sequence of the test performance. 4. Thus tests employed for studying neural cardiovascular control in man produce responses whose reproducibility is limited. This phenomenon may make it more difficult to define the response magnitude typical of each subject, as well as its comparison in different conditions and diseases.


2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (4) ◽  
pp. 1516-1524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeann L. Sabino-Carvalho ◽  
André L. Teixeira ◽  
Milena Samora ◽  
Maurício Daher ◽  
Lauro C. Vianna

Patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) exhibit attenuated cardiovascular responses to exercise. The underlying mechanisms that are potentially contributing to these impairments are not fully understood. Therefore, we sought to test the hypothesis that patients with PD exhibit blunted cardiovascular responses to isolated muscle metaboreflex activation following exercise. For this, mean blood pressure, cardiac output, and total peripheral resistance were measured using finger photoplethysmography and the Modelflow method in 11 patients with PD [66 ± 2 yr; Hoehn and Yahr score: 2 ± 1 a.u.; time since diagnosis: 7 ± 1 yr; means ± SD) and 9 age-matched controls (66 ± 3 yr). Measurements were obtained at rest, during isometric handgrip exercise performed at 40% maximal voluntary contraction, and during postexercise ischemia. Also, a cold pressor test was assessed to confirm that blunted cardiovascular responses were specific to exercise and not representative of generalized sympathetic responsiveness. Changes in mean blood pressure were attenuated in patients with PD during handgrip (PD: ∆25 ± 2 mmHg vs. controls: ∆31 ± 3 mmHg; P < 0.05), and these group differences remained during postexercise ischemia (∆17 ± 1 mmHg vs. ∆26 ± 1 mmHg, respectively; P < 0.01). Additionally, changes in total peripheral resistance were attenuated during exercise and postexercise ischemia, indicating blunted reflex vasoconstriction in patients with PD. Responses to cold pressor test did not differ between groups, suggesting no group differences in generalized sympathetic responsiveness. Our results support the concept that attenuated cardiovascular responses to exercise observed in patients with PD are, at least in part, explained by an altered skeletal muscle metaboreflex. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) presented blunted cardiovascular responses to exercise. We showed that cardiovascular response evoked by the metabolic component of the exercise pressor reflex is blunted in patients with PD. Furthermore, patients with PD presented similar pressor response during the cold pressor test compared with age-matched controls. Altogether, our results support the hypothesis that attenuated cardiovascular responses to exercise observed in patients with PD are mediate by an altered skeletal muscle metaboreflex.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (13) ◽  
pp. 3149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lackner ◽  
Papousek ◽  
Schmid-Zalaudek ◽  
Cervar-Zivkovic ◽  
Kolovetsiou-Kreiner ◽  
...  

Women with pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia appear to be at increased risk of metabolic and vascular diseases in later life. Previous research has also indicated disturbed cardiorespiratory adaptation during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to follow up on the physiological stress response in preeclampsia several weeks postpartum. A standardized laboratory test was used to illustrate potential deviations in the physiological stress responding to mildly stressful events of the kind and intensity in which they regularly occur in further everyday life after pregnancy. Fifteen to seventeen weeks postpartum, 35 women previously affected by preeclampsia (19 mild, 16 severe preeclampsia), 38 women after uncomplicated pregnancies, and 51 age-matched healthy controls were exposed to a self-relevant stressor in a standardized stress-reactivity protocol. Reactivity of blood pressure, heart rate, stroke index, and systemic vascular resistance index as well as baroreceptor sensitivity were analyzed. In addition, the mutual adjustment of blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration, partitioned for influences of the sympathetic and the parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system, were quantified by determining their phase synchronization. Findings indicated moderately elevated blood pressure levels in the nonpathological range, reduced stroke volume, and elevated systemic vascular resistance in women previously affected by preeclampsia. Despite these moderate abnormalities, at the time of testing, women with previous preeclampsia did not differ from the other groups in their physiological response patterns to acute stress. Furthermore, no differences between early, preterm, and term preeclampsia or mild and severe preeclampsia were observed at the time of testing. The findings suggest that the overall cardiovascular responses to moderate stressors return to normal in women who experience a pregnancy with preeclampsia a few weeks after delivery, while the operating point of the arterial baroreflex is readjusted to a higher pressure. Yet, their regulation mechanisms may remain different.


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