[Cardiovascular response to the treadmill exercise test in young women in Sarajevo during chronic stress due to the...

This study is unique in its approach because it was carried out under extremely hard conditions during intensive war activities. Specific characteristic of this aggressive war was that civilian population was forced to live in war zone for a very long period without enough food, water and energy supplies. It was really stressful to live with cognitiori that anyone at any moment and place could become victim of sudden shelling and shooting of civil targets. The aim of this study was to assess how the war caused stress influenced the function of cardiovascular system and its response on stress exercise in young women. The subjects were selected among the students of Sarajevo University. All of them lived in Sarajevo during whole war period. Nine young women (age 18-21) performed multistage incremental exercise treadmill testing under Bruce protocol. It was planned for each subject to complete two exercise sessions in three months interval, but only five persons completed second session. It was a period of intensive attack on the city so that some of our subjects left Sarajevo and some were wounded. The results of two exercise sessions showed that resting values of cardiovascular variables, were within physiological range but with great individual variations. The mean maximal exercise capacity expressed as metabolic units (METS) was 13.67 +/- 1.00 for the first exercise session and 13.40 +/- 0.89 for the second. Heart rate in response to exercise increased rapidly. It was achieved about 95% of predicted max. There were no significant differences in the results of two exercise sessions. Hyperreactive physiological responses as consequences of war caused stress could not be changed in so short period and under unchanged war conditions.