Increased orthostatic blood pressure variability after prolonged head-down tilt

The effect of simulated weightlessness on orthostatic blood pressure regulation was evaluated with passive 70 degrees head-up tilt (HUT) after 10 days 6 degrees head-down tilt (HDT). Six healthy male volunteers were studied. Continuous recording of finger blood pressure (BP) was obtained non-invasively with a FinapresTM device. Instantaneous heart rate (HR) was derived from the electrocardiogram. To quantify orthostatic BP variability, a fast fourier transform (FFT) of the beat-by-beat BP- and RR-interval values was performed. Control HR before HUT after the 10-day HDT period was increased, probably due to an arousal state of the test subjects. The change in BP induced by HUT was not influenced by 10 days' HDT, in contrast to the HR rise which increased from 24 +/- 2 beats/min to 41 +/- 7 beats/min (P less than 0.05). After HDT the total variance in orthostatic BP almost doubled. FFT indicated that this increase in variance can be ascribed to BP oscillations with a frequency of around 0.1 Hz. In three subjects transient HR decelerations during HUT after HDT were observed. Analysis of the relationship between BP and HR in the transients showed that each HR decrease was preceded by a BP increase above normal. These HR decelerations seemed, therefore, to be an effect of the vagal part of the arterial baroreflex and did not necessary signal an impending vasovagal syncope. The present study indicates that although 10 days' HDT do not influence absolute BP responses to 70 degrees HUT BP was maintained by an increased sympathetic activity, reflected by an increased HR response and an augmented variance in BP around 0.1 Hz.