We examined the hemodynamic responses to exercise and symptoms in 37 male patients with untreated essential hypertension, and compared the findings with those in 32 age-matched healthy male volunteers by performing a graded symptom-limited exercise test using a bicycle ergometer. The subjective feeling of intensity of exercise was determined using the Borg scale. In the relationship between Borg scores and blood pressure (BP), patients with hypertension showed higher systolic BP and diastolic BP relative to the Borg scores than the controls. Consequently, patients with hypertension showed significantly higher systolic BP with Borg scores < or = 3 (subjective symptoms < or = moderately hard) than the controls (177.8 +/- 27.0 vs. 143.7 +/- 17.9 mmHg, p < 0.0001). Similarly, significantly higher diastolic BP with Borg scores < or = 3 was observed in patients with hypertension than in the controls (101.6 +/- 12.0 vs. 82.6 +/- 11.6 mmHg, p < 0.0001). The pulse pressure with Borg scores < or = 3 was also significantly higher in patients with hypertension than in the controls (76.2 +/- 20.6 vs. 61.0 +/- 13.6 mmHg, p < 0.0001). Hypertensive patients showed a decrease in the high-frequency power of heart rate variability at initial low-load exercise. In conclusion, the present study revealed that there was a greater BP response relative to the Borg score in patients with hypertension than in the controls. Autonomic nerve activity may contribute to some extent to these different relations. A determination of the relationship between the subjective feeling of intensity of the exercise and BP levels caused by a given intensity of load is essential before exercise training in patients, at least in males, with hypertension to avoid increasing the risk of cardiovascular events in association with excessive exercise training.

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Cilostazol improves the slow HR episodes associated with chronic atrial fibrillation and maintains the HR circadian variation and time-domain variability, indicating that cilostazol has therapeutic utility for the treatment of the slow HR associated with chronic atrial fibrillation.

The present study revealed that augmentation index was associated with dipping blood pressure patterns in untreated hypertensive patients aged 60 years or younger. Augmentation index determination would be useful for initial assessment in connection with possible abnormal diurnal blood pressure variability in patients with age 60 years or younger.

The heart rate (HR) is closely coupled with cardiac performance [1]. In response to changes in the oxygenated blood requirements of the body due to exercise, the HR changes with the alteration of cardiac output. The HR is also closely related to myocardial oxygen consumption [2]. Impaired response of heart rate to exercise has recently been demonstrated to be predictive of increased mortality and coronary heart disease incidence [3,4]. Quantitative analyses of the HR response are thus important with respect to cardiac accidents.In high-intensity bicycle ergometer-exercise (120 W), the HR at first increased rapidly followed by a continuous and gradual increase, and this response was fitted to a second-order exponential function [5][6][7][8][9]. In moderate-intensity exercise (50-75 W), the HR increased and reached a plateau level, and this response was fitted to a first-order exponential function [5][6][7][8][9]. In unloaded or low-intensity exercise, the HR increased transiently and then declined, and an adequate equation fitting this response has not yet been obtained [10]. In these previous analyses, it was difficult to determine, in certain cases, whether the first-or second-order exponential equation was appropriate for fitting. It is also reasonable to expect that the central nervous command system regulates smoothly (not suddenly with a switching point) the change of balance between parasympathetic and sympathetic tone. It would be more theoretically reasonable for one single equation to fit all these different HR changes, and such an equation would be very helpful for analyzing the HR changes induced by constant-load exercise Key words: kinetics, regression, least-squares method, electrocardiography. Abstract:We attempted to fit heart rate (HR) changes induced by constant exercise loads of different intensities to an exponential hyperbolic sine curve by the least-squares method, and we compared the results with the fitting of the changes to exponential curves. Seven healthy male volunteers performed three different intensities of constant-load exercise on a bicycle ergometer. The exponential hyperbolic sine function adequately fitted the HR responses induced by all three different intensities of loads: low (30 W: correlation coefficient, rϭ0.68Ϯ0.13, meanϮSD), moderate (75 W: rϭ0.93Ϯ0.07) and high (125 W: rϭ0.97Ϯ0.02). The first-order exponential curve fitted only the moderate load response. Although the second-order exponential equation fitted the HR response for both the moderate and high loads, the equation did not fit the low-load response (rϭ0.43Ϯ0.26). In lowload exercise, the sum of the power of the residuals for the exponential hyperbolic sine curve fitting was significantly smaller than that for the first-or second-order exponential curve fitting. In conclusion, the exponential hyperbolic sine function is useful for quantitative analyses of the HR response to exercise loads of various intensities.