[Cardiovascular response to mental and physical stress in hyper-reactive normotensive subjects. Beta blockade effect]

The aim of our study was to evaluate the cardiovascular reactivity in healthy normotensive subjects without medication, using mental and physical stress techniques: Stroop color word conflict test (SCWCT), anticipatory blood pressure response to exercise (ARE) and stress testing (ST). We analized the effects of a selective beta 1 betablocker: bisoprolol (B) on cardiovascular reactivity in our subjects (s). We studied 42 s, but only 30 (21 females and 9 males) were included who were hyperreactives. The mean age was 42.5 years. The higher values of systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) during the mental stress (MS) were taken as a measure of reactivity considering hyperreactive response an increase of 30 mm Hg or more and/or 15 mm Hg or more respectively. A prospective, randomized and double blind study on the effects of an oral daily doses of B (5 mg) vs placebo (P) was performed. Statistical analysis was realized with the Fisher exact test. In the results, we could observed a lower sensitivity of ARE and ST vs SCWCT. The 15 s who recieved P followed hyperreactives but 6 of 15 s treated with B were non reactives (p<0.017). B showed a beneficial effect on the hyperreactivity in a significant number of s in relation with P and it could be useful for the prevention of a future hypertension.