The association of elevated blood pressure during ischaemic exercise with sport performance in Master athletes with and without morbidity

Bergita Ganse,Jamie S Mcphee,Liam Bagley,Fabio Zambolin,Pablo Duro-Ocana,Azmy Faisal

doi:10.1007/s00421-021-04828-9

Bergita Ganse, Jamie S Mcphee + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-021-04828-9

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Abstract

BackgroundAn exaggerated exercise blood pressure (BP) is associated with a reduced exercise capacity. However, its connection to physical performance during competition is unknown.AimTo examine BP responses to ischaemic handgrip exercise in Master athletes (MA) with and without underlying morbidities and to assess their association with athletic performance during the World Master Track Cycling Championships 2019.MethodsForty-eight Master cyclists [age 59 ± 13yrs; weekly training volume 10.4 ± 4.1 h/week; handgrip maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) 46.3 ± 11.5 kg] divided into 2 matched groups (24 healthy MA and 24 MA with morbidity) and 10 healthy middle-aged non-athlete controls (age 48.3 ± 8.3 years; MVC 40.4 ± 14.8 kg) performed 5 min of forearm occlusion including 1 min handgrip isometric contraction (40%MVC) followed by 5 min recovery. Continuous beat-by-beat BP was recorded using finger plethysmography. Age-graded performance (AGP) was calculated to compare race performances among MA. Healthy Master cyclists were further grouped into middle-age (age 46.2 ± 6.4 years; N:12) and old-age (age 65.0 ± 7.7 years; N:12) for comparison with middle-aged non-athlete controls.ResultsHealthy and morbidity MA groups showed similar BP responses during forearm occlusion and AGP (90.1 ± 4.3% and 91.0 ± 5.3%, p > 0.05, respectively). Healthy and morbidity MA showed modest correlation between the BP rising slope for 40%MVC ischaemic exercise and AGP (r = 0.5, p < 0.05). MA showed accelerated SBP recovery after cessation of ischaemic handgrip exercise compared to healthy non-athlete controls.ConclusionOur findings associate long-term athletic training with improved BP recovery following ischaemic exercise regardless of age or reported morbidity. Exaggerated BP in Master cyclists during ischaemic exercise was associated with lower AGP during the World Master Cycling Championships.

Highlights

Elevated exercise blood pressure (BP) is a prevalent risk factor for cardiovascular (CV) diseases in sedentary individuals (Schultz et al 2012) and elite athletes (Berge et al 2015)
The healthy and morbidity Master athletes (MA) groups were of similar age, height, weight, maximum voluntary contraction (MVC), and weekly training volume (Table 1)
Within the morbidity MA group, there were no differences in BP responses between MA with cardiovascular diseases and MA with other reported conditions (Fig. 1E— Online Supplement)

Summary

Introduction

Elevated exercise blood pressure (BP) is a prevalent risk factor for cardiovascular (CV) diseases in sedentary individuals (Schultz et al 2012) and elite athletes (Berge et al 2015). A prevalence of 10% with established respiratory and cardiovascular diseases was found in a master athletes’ cohort (Shapero et al 2016) These morbidities are often connected to an impaired BP regulation during exercise despite a normotensive status at rest (Currie et al 2017), indicating an early state of hypertensive disease. Methods Forty-eight Master cyclists [age 59 ± 13yrs; weekly training volume 10.4 ± 4.1 h/week; handgrip maximum voluntary contraction (MVC) 46.3 ± 11.5 kg] divided into 2 matched groups (24 healthy MA and 24 MA with morbidity) and 10 healthy middle-aged non-athlete controls (age 48.3 ± 8.3 years; MVC 40.4 ± 14.8 kg) performed 5 min of forearm occlusion including 1 min handgrip isometric contraction (40%MVC) followed by 5 min recovery.

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