Different cardiovascular responses to exercise training in hypertensive women receiving beta-blockers or angiotensin receptor blockers: A pilot study

Aim To verify the influence of beta-blockers or angiotensin receptor blockers on cardiovascular responses to exercise training in hypertensive post-menopausal women. Methods Postmenopausal women were allocated into: healthy control group (CON; n = 9); angiotensin receptor blockers users (ARB; n = 19); and beta-adrenergic blockers users (BB; n = 19). Before and after 12 weeks of combined (aerobic and resistance) exercise training they were evaluated by: heart rate (HR) and its variability (HRV), blood pressure (BP) under stress (Cold pressor and Stroop color tests), and ambulatorial BP and its variability. Results In ambulatorial BP analysis only in ARB group awake systolic BP decreased (p = .011; ARB: From 122 +/- 11 to 117 +/- 9; BB: From 118 +/- 7 to 114 +/- 5; CON: From 121 +/- 7 to 127 +/- 11 mmHg). There were time effects in BP reactivity to stress, where BP reactivity after Stroop color and Cold pressor test decreased in all groups. In BP variability analysis, only BB group has significative decreased values in systolic SD24 (p = .007; Delta ARB = -0.3 +/- 2.0; Delta BB = -1.3 +/- 2.0; Delta CON = 0.8 +/- 1.7 mmHg) and SDdn (p = .006; Delta ARB = -0.2 +/- 1.6; Delta BB = -1.3 +/- 2.0; Delta CON = 0.4 +/- 2.1 mmHg). HRV analysis demonstrated that post-training, only in BB group LF/HF decreased (p = .001; Delta ARB = 0.1 +/- 0.8; Delta BB = -0.4 +/- 1.5; Delta CON = 1.0 +/- 1.7). Conclusion ARB present pronounced responses in awake ambulatorial systolic BP, while beta-blockers users present greater responses in BP variability. Besides that, exercise can mitigate BP reactivity to stress with no differences between groups. Lastly, there were no major differences in HRV. Trial registry at "Clinicaltrials.gov" NCT03529838