Abstract
During exercise, an increase in respiratory rate amplifies the blood pressure oscillations.
This phenomenon is usually intensified when exercise rate exceeds the ventilatory
thresholds (VTs). The present study examined whether VTs assessment was possible from
systolic blood pressure variability (SBPV) analysis to give blood pressure ventilatory
thresholds (BPVTs). Blood pressure, ECG, and Ventilatory equivalents (VE/VO2, VE/VCO2)
were collected from 15 well-trained subjects during an incremental exhaustive test
performed on a cycloergometer. The “Short-Time Fourier Transform” was applied to SBP
series to compute the instantaneous high frequency SBPV power (HF-SBPV). BPVTs were
determined in all but 3 subjects. For the 12 remaining subjects, visual examination
of ventilatory equivalents and HF-SBPV power revealed 2 thresholds for both methods.
There was no difference between the first (VT1 235±60 vs. BPVT1 226±55 W, p=0.063)
and second (VT2 293±67 vs. BPVT2 301±66 W, p=0.063) thresholds. However, BPVT1 was
slightly underestimated compared to VT1 (9.9±15.4 W) given lower limit of agreement
(LOA) at −19.9 W and higher at 40.4 W. BPVT2 was over-estimated compared to VT2 (−8.8±11.2
W) given lower LOA at −30.9 W and higher at 13.4 W. Thus, BPVTs determination appears
useful in conditioning programs with sedentary or pathological subjects but probably
not with trained subjects.
Key words
heavy exercise - cardio-respiratory interactions - hyperpnea - blood pressure variability
- time frequency analysis - short time Fourier transform
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Correspondence
Dr. Francois Cottin
Unité de Biologie Intégrative
des Adaptations á I'Exercice
(UBIAE), Institut National de
la Santé et de la Recherche
Médicale (INSERM) 902/EA
3872, Genopole
Boulevard F. Mitterrand
91025 Evry cedex
France
Telefon: +33/169/644 881
Fax: +33/169/644 895
eMail: francois.cottin@univ-evry.fr