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Cardiovascular reactivity in isometric exercise and mental arithmetic in children
H A Verhaaren1, R M Schieken, P Schwartz
1Department of Pediatrics, University of Gent, Belgium.
Insights
Children
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Cardiology
- Human Physiology
- Stress Response Research
Background:
- Understanding pediatric cardiovascular responses to stress is crucial for assessing health.
- Noninvasive methods allow for repeated assessments of cardiovascular function in children.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate and compare cardiovascular stress responses (systolic blood pressure, heart rate, stroke volume) in children under isometric handgrip and mental arithmetic.
- To determine sex-based differences in these responses.
- To explore relationships between anthropometric variables and cardiovascular stress responses.
Main Methods:
- Noninvasive monitoring of systolic blood pressure (SBP), heart rate (HR), and stroke volume (SV) in children.
- Application of two distinct stress tests: isometric handgrip (IHG) and mental arithmetic.
- Analysis of cardiovascular changes over the stress period and correlation with anthropometric data.
Main Results:
- Stroke volume (SV) significantly differed between IHG and mental arithmetic, potentially due to higher systemic vascular resistance during IHG.
- Boys exhibited lower heart rate (HR) than girls across both stress conditions.
- Left ventricular mass correlated positively with higher SVs; significant relationships were observed between HR and SBP, and HR and SV.
Conclusions:
- Cardiovascular stress responses in children vary between different types of stressors.
- Sex differences in heart rate responses to stress are present in children.
- Anthropometric factors, particularly left ventricular mass, influence stroke volume responses to stress.
Abstract:
In children, we studied noninvasively the cardiovascular stress responses, including changes over time of systolic blood pressure (SBP), heart rate (HR), and stroke volume (SV) in isometric handgrip (IHG) and mental arithmetic. Specifically, we asked whether 1) these cardiovascular stress responses were different for the two stress conditions in children, 2) these responses differed in boys and girls, and 3) the anthropometric variables related to these stress responses. SV differed significantly between IHG and mental arithmetic over the entire stress period. This may reflect higher systemic vascular resistance during IHG. HR in boys was lower than in girls over the entire period of stress in both stress tests. This observation cannot be attributed to differences in conditioning, because this should not influence responses to isometric or mental stress. A larger left ventricular mass was related to higher SVs. A marked relationship was found between HR and SBP and between HR and SV. No relationship was found between SBP and SV.