Post-exercise hypotension and heart rate variability response after water-and landergometry exercise in hypertensive patients

Background: systemic arterial hypertension is the most prevalent cardiovascular disease; physical activity for hypertensive patients is related to several beneficial cardiovascular adaptations. This paper evaluated the effect of water-and land-ergometry exercise sessions on post-exercise hypotension (PEH) of healthy normotensive subjects versus treated or untreated hypertensive patients. Methods: Forty-five older women composed three experimental groups: normotensive (N, n = 10), treated hypertensive (TH, n = 15) and untreated hypertensive (UH, n = 20). The physical exercise acute session protocol was performed at 75% of maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max) for 45 minutes; systolic (SBP), diastolic (DBP) and mean (MBP) blood pressure were evaluated at rest, peak and at 15, 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90 minutes after exercise cessation. Additionally, the heart rate variability (HRV) was analyzed by R-R intervals in the frequency domain for the assessment of cardiac autonomic function. Results: I...