966-42 Pressor Reactivity to Stress and Development of Stable Hypertension in Borderline Hypertensives

Cardiovascular reactivity to stress may have a pathophysiological role in the development of hypertension. We studied the value of measuring the blood pressure change during standardized mental challenge (mental arithmetic) to prediction of onset of high blood pressure among 80 young patients with borderline hypertension actively followed for 10 years. Patients have been classified as normo- (NR, n.34) or hyperresponders (HR, n.46) in comparison to a control population of 20 normotensive subjects (C). After adjustment for age, resting blood pressure, and body mass index at study entry, larger systolic and diastolic blood pressure responses to mental stress were associated with a higher percentage of 10-year development of high blood pressure.SSP-stressDBP stressAgeSex (%M/F)%HBPNR19.6±4103±3226±683/1722HR29.3±4*,†18.9±3*,†234±573/2745**,††C17.8±311.2±224.1±481/195*p<0.05**P<0.01 vs NR†P<0.05††P<0.001 vs CThe predictive power was comparable for both systolic and diastolic blood pressure and was not related to baseline blood pressure, baseline or stress heart rate, body mass index and family history of hypertension. These data suggest that subjects at high risk for hypertension might have an exaggerated stress-induced cardiovascular response at younger age