This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Ekelund, L. G. Articles by Tyroler, H. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Ekelund, L. G. Articles by Tyroler, H. A.

Circulation, Vol 81, 1568-1574, Copyright © 1990 by American Heart Association

ARTICLES

Black-white differences in exercise blood pressure. The Lipid Research Clinics Program Prevalence Study

LG Ekelund, CM Suchindran, JM Karon, RP McMahon and HA Tyroler
Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

After exclusion of persons on blood pressure medication or with prevalent cardiovascular disease, we studied 83 black and 2,548 white men and 113 black and 1,519 white women 20-69 years old from the Lipid Research Clinics population sample who had performed a standardized treadmill exercise test. Resting systolic and diastolic blood pressures were similar in black and white men, but the diastolic pressure was significantly higher in black than in white women (81.4 vs 77.4 mm Hg). Body weight was higher in black than in white women, and reported physical activity was higher in black than in white men. The proportion of smokers was somewhat higher in blacks than in whites. During the treadmill exercise test with a modified Bruce protocol, mean systolic blood pressure at stage 2 was 174 mm Hg in black men and 166 mm Hg in white men (p less than 0.02), but stage 2 blood pressures did not differ between black and white women (153 and 152 mm Hg, respectively). Even after adjustments were made for levels of baseline characteristics (age, weight, resting systolic blood pressure, smoking, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, physical activity, and alcohol intake), black men responded with a 7-mm Hg higher systolic blood pressure during exercise than white men (p less than 0.01). Another new finding was a highly significant positive association between stage 2 systolic blood pressure and low density lipoprotein cholesterol in men. The findings suggest a higher systemic vascular resistance during exercise in the selected sample of black men, which is consistent with the higher incidence of hypertension in black men.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. Basavarajaiah, A. Boraita, G. Whyte, M. Wilson, L. Carby, A. Shah, and S. Sharma Ethnic differences in left ventricular remodeling in highly-trained athletes relevance to differentiating physiologic left ventricular hypertrophy from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. J. Am. Coll. Cardiol., June 10, 2008; 51(23): 2256 - 2262. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]