Left ventricular mass and cardiovascular reactivity in young men

Abstract

The relation between left ventricular wall thickness and mass, arterial plasma catecholamines, and blood pressure at rest and during a mental arithmetic challenge and a cold pressor test was examined in 69 healthy men 19 years of age. The subjects were recruited from the 1st (n=21), 50th (n=26), and 99th (n=22) percentiles in mean blood pressure. All underwent echocardiography to determine mean wall thickness and left ventricular mass. Continuous intra-arterial blood pressure, electrocardiogram, and arterial sampling of plasma catecholamines were performed after 30 minutes of supine rest, during a 5-minute mental arithmetic challenge, and during a 1-minute cold pressor test. Stepwise multipleregression analyses considering mean wall thickness and left ventricular mass as the dependent variables were applied. Intra-arterial systolic blood pressure ( r =.54, P r =.31, P =.009) after 30 minutes of supine rest were the only independent explanatory variables of mean wall thickness (multiple R 2 =.33, P