DJ Torok, JT Lightfoot. Parental history of hypertension does not influence the heart rate or blood pressure response during different cold pressor tests . Southeastern Regional American College of Sports Medicine, Lexington, KY, Feb. 2-4, 1995.
The purpose of this study was to examine whether normotensive individuals (<140/mmhg) with or without parental history of hypertension (pph) had different heart rate (hr) and blood pressure (sbp, dbp, and mabp) responses to different cold pressor (cp) tests (hand (h), foot (f), forehead (fh), and all three combined (c). thirty-four volunteer subjects (15 with pph and 19 with no parental history of hypertension (nph) each received in randomized order each of the three different cp (h, f, and fh) tests (2.5 min in 4-5°c water) and the c application as the final test. there were no significant (p<0.05) differences between the groups in resting hr's or bp's. the hr and bp responses to the different cp tests were not different with differing parental history of hypertension. further analysis of the hr data with spectral analysis found no significant differences between groups in the power of the high, mid, or low frequency curves. these results suggest that hr variability and the bp response to the cp test is not influenced by one's parental history of hypertension.