[Isometric exercise tolerance in healthy women and in those with myocardial infarction]

Isometric stress tolerance was examined in 40 normal females and 40 female patients with subacute myocardial infarction (MI). Normal females exhibited smaller hand grip force, as compared to normal males with similar static stress tolerance. Female MI patients, like their male counterparts, showed uncompromised hand grip force, while their static stress tolerance was reduced, being approximately similar in both male and female patients. In normal females and female MI patients, changes in heart rate, systolic and diastolic arterial blood pressure and the double product were similar to those observed in males, but were induced by smaller static stress.