LONG-TERM BLOOD PRESSURE VARIABILITY IN STRENGTH AND ENDURANCE PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES WITH OFFICE PREHYPERTENSION OVER...

Considering the high spreading of arterial hypertension (AH) in professional athletes involved in different types of physical activities, as well as the high probability of its development in individuals with high normal blood pressure (BP), we aimed at investigating the daily profile of BP during three periods of annual training summer macrocycle: the preparation, competitive and transition ones. The investigation included 30 athletes having levels of systolic BP ≥130 and <140; as well as diastolic BP ≥ 85 and <90 mmHg during a thorough office examination in the preparation phase, who were divided into two groups without changes on age, sex, the duration of the sporting career depending on the type of a performed physical activity - strength (Str) and endurance (End). The athletes underwent office BP measurements and home BP monitoring (over the course of 3-7 days (M=5.2 (0.9) days), medical consultations, anthropometric and clinical examinations on each phase of the macrocycle. Although symptoms of chronic stress and autonomic dysfunction were quite common in athletes with prehypertension, still the emergence of the detected symptoms didn't differ significantly between two groups under investigation. When comparing the average values of office and home BP, the differences between Str-group and End-group regarding all indicators during the competitive phase have been identified. In particular, the levels of home diastolic BP differ the most - in Str-group they amounted to 91.1 (5.5) mm Hg, whereas in Endgroup to 83.7 (5.9) mm Hg (р=0.002). Nevertheless, the average maximum home systolic BP in Str-group has exceeded the high normal limit and accounted for 142.5 (10.2) mm Hg, in End-group the same parameter was 133.1 (7.6) mm Hg (р=0.019). The spreading of hypertension during preparation, competitive and transition periods in the Str-group has consecutively accounted for 20%, 53.3% and 13.3%.; in End-group the BP has accounted for 6.7%, 13.3% and 6.7% respectively, herewith during the competitive phase that indicator in Str-group was much higher (р=0.02), and the relative risk of developing hypertension during the competitive phase equaled 4 (р=0.048). Therefore, the increase of AH frequency and the level of BP in athletes involved in strength exercises isn't supported by an increase of autonomic symptoms development in comparison to the athletes performing endurance exercises, i.e. the frequency of asymptomatic, masked cases has a tendency to rise. To detect hypertension in time, we suggest performing home BP monitoring for athletes with high normal blood pressure during the competitive period.