Summary
In order to dissociate the effects of an elevated blood pressure on cardiovascular regulatory functions from those of aging in elderly hypertension, resting hemodynamic and circulatory autonomic functions of 30 elderly hypertensive patients were compared with those of 30 healthy, age-matched, normotensive volunteers with mean age of 65 years. The hypertensives showed significantly lower cardiac index and higher total peripheral resistance. ß-receptor and baroreflex sensitivity indices were only marginally reduced in hypertensives as compared to normotensives, while the variability of the resting heart rate as an index of cardiac parasympathetic control did not differ between the two groups. Plasma renin activity, but not plasma aldosterone, was significantly decreased in the hypertensives. Group results showed plasma norepinephrine level inversely related to resting mean blood pressure (r = -0.31, P < 0.05). Thus, it is unlikely that either sympathetic nervous system or reninangiotensin system is responsible for the increase in peripheral resistance in elderly hypertension. Furthermore, high blood pressure has a very limited influence on circulatory regulatory functions, which in the older subjects have already been substantially altered by age.
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© 1989 Springer Japan
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Kawamoto, A. et al. (1989). Comparison of Cardiovascular Regulatory Functions in Elderly Hypertensive Patients and Normal Elderly Subjects. In: Omae, T., Zanchetti, A. (eds) How Should Elderly Hypertensive Patients Be Treated?. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-68340-7_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-68340-7_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo
Print ISBN: 978-4-431-68342-1
Online ISBN: 978-4-431-68340-7
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