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Altered baroreflex sensitivity at rest and during Valsalva maneuver in healthy male offspring of hypertensive patients

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Abstract

Introduction

A family history of hypertension puts young adults at a higher risk of developing hypertension, that too, at an earlier age than their parents. Recent studies suggest that the baroreflex mechanism, which takes care of the short-term regulation of blood pressure (BP), also plays a role in the long-term regulation of BP. Studies have reported decreased baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) in hypertensives. Reduced BRS is shown to herald the future occurrence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and helps in risk stratification

Aim

To assess BRS at rest and during the Valsalva maneuver among apparently healthy male offspring (age 18–35 years) of hypertensive patients.

Methods

We recruited 37 participants whose parents (either/both) were hypertensive in the study group and whose parents (both) were not hypertensive in the control group. We measured basic anthropometric parameters (height, weight, waist circumference), cardiovascular parameters (heart rate and BP), short-term heart rate variability, and BRS (at rest and during Valsalva).

Results

We found that BRS at rest and BRS during the Valsalva maneuver were reduced among healthy male offspring of hypertensive parents than in healthy male offspring of non-hypertensive parents. Further, HRV indices and Valsalva ratio showed a sympathovagal imbalance in the form of decreased vagal and increased sympathetic activity.

Conclusion

The reduced BRS and sympathovagal imbalance in male offspring of hypertensive parents reveal the early risk of developing hypertension in the future.

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Availability of data and material

Data could be made available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to all the participants who took part in the study, and we thank the Indian Council of Medical Research for approving our project under short term studentship 2020 (Reference ID: 2020-06494).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry, India

    Prashanth Chandrasekaran

  2. Department of Physiology, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Puducherry, India

    Saranya Kuppusamy, Bhavithra Bharathi & Charu Bansal

  3. Department of Physiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Mangalagiri, India

    Senthil Kumar Subramanian

  4. Department of Physiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Kalyani, West Bengal, India

    Jean Fredrick

Authors
  1. Prashanth Chandrasekaran
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  2. Saranya Kuppusamy
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Saranya Kuppusamy.

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On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Human and animal rights statement

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards Informed consent was obtained from all individuals included in this study. The study was commenced after getting approval from the Institutional Ethics committee (Human) (JIP/IEC/2020/236).

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Chandrasekaran, P., Kuppusamy, S., Subramanian, S.K. et al. Altered baroreflex sensitivity at rest and during Valsalva maneuver in healthy male offspring of hypertensive patients. High Blood Press Cardiovasc Prev 30, 73–81 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40292-023-00559-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40292-023-00559-4

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