Research update for articles published in EJCI in 2016

Abstract

The association of an excessive blood pressure increase with exercise (i.e., an increase in systolic blood pressure with exercise ≥95th percentile) with lower risk of subsequent events in patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease has been consistently verified even in those with baseline hypertension. Nonetheless, this negative association, also confirmed in another study on a Japanese population, might depend on peak VO2, such that the prognostic value of blood pressure response might be limited in patients with preserved exercise capacity. In addition, a hypertensive response with exercise (defined as a systolic blood pressure ≥220 mmHg during the test) has also been associated with lower risk of echocardiographic myocardial ischemia. These findings might be mediated mainly by the degree of exercise-induced increase in cardiac output, which is a main determinant of blerved.ood pressure response and may be blunted or even reversed in the presence of significant coronary artery disease.