The cardiovascular responses to stress in Myanmar male subjects: The influence of the family history of hypertension

ABSTRACT

The heart rate and arterial blood pressure responses to mental (Arithmetic test) and orthostatic (75 head-up tilt) stress were studied in apparently healthy young Myanmar male subjects (age 20-28 yrs). It was found that the heart rate responses (measured with computerized ECG system) to mental arithmetic and orthostatic stress in the group with family history of hypertension (FH + group) were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than those without the family history (FH - group). The blood pressure responses (indirect sphygmometry) to both stresses tended to be greater in the FH (+) group compared with those in the FH (_) group. It was concluded that the cardiac responses to mental and orthostatic stresses were greater in young Myanmar male subjects with family history of hypertension compared with those without.