Exercise hypertension in the perspective of systemic arterial hypertension. An overview

Systemic arterial hypertension is one of the most wide-spread diseases in the world. It is a chronic disease with a very long asymptomatic phase. At an estimated prevalence in the developed countries of 15 to 20%, it can be assumed that approximately 80% of men and 60% of women with hypertension are either unaware of their condition or are not treated adequately. These figures show that reliable diagnostic measures are needed to provide efficient detection of high blood pressure in a given population. In this regard, exercise testing has proven particularly well-suited. Using standardized ergometry, patients with latent, borderline or manifest hypertension can be identified. Exercise hypertension is defined on the basis of an abnormal blood pressure increase during physical exercise in persons with normal blood pressure at rest. Because of marked interindividual fluctuation in blood pressure, values measured at rest may be of only limited usefulness in the diagnosis of hypertension. In contrast, the blood pressure during dynamic exercise may be particularly informative with respect to probability of future development of manifest hypertension and treatment of high blood pressure. Long-term studies have shown that within five years up to one-third of patients with exercise hypertension develop manifest hypertension at rest. Based on the Canada Fitness Survey data indicating that about 2% of the population demonstrate exercise hypertension, it can be estimated that approximately 200,000 Canadians will develop manifest hypertension within five years. Similar statistics are also applicable for most of the developed countries of the world.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)