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Volume 20, Issue C, December 2017, Pages 109 - 110

P194 CARDIOVASCULAR RESPONSES TO INCREASED PRESSURE DURING HEALTHY PREGNANCY

Authors
Victoria L. Meah1, Rob E. Shave1, Karianne Backx1, Eric Stöhr1, 2
1Department of Physiology & Health, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Cardiff, UK
2Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Columbia University, New York, USA
Available Online 6 December 2017.
DOI
10.1016/j.artres.2017.10.195How to use a DOI?
Abstract

A long-standing question is whether pregnant females, who bear an increased biological stress, experience exacerbated cardiovascular responses during physiological challenge. At rest, pregnant females have reduced blood pressure, increased cardiac output, heart rate and stroke volume (1), with reported reductions in cardiac contraction and relaxation (2). Increased cardiac work may potentially exasperate impairments in function observed at rest. The aim of this study was to investigate the cardiovascular responses to an isolated increase in pressure in healthy nulliparous non-pregnant, primiparous pregnant (22–26 weeks gestation; n = 14) and primiparous postpartum (12–16 weeks after delivery; n = 13) females.

The pressure challenge was elicited through a sustained isometric hold for approximately 5 minutes at 30% of maximum using an externally loaded handgrip dynamometer. Echocardiographic images were collected to measure cardiac volumes and mechanics. Blood pressure was monitored continuously using finger photoplethysmography. Analyses of covariance, with baseline measures as covariate, were completed to determine differences between groups (P = <0.05). Post hoc analyses were performed with a Bonferroni adjustment.

There were no significant differences between groups in cardiac volumes or blood pressure during the challenge however; pregnant females had a greater heart rate (68±2 versus 62±2 beats·min−1) and longitudinal strain (−20.6±1.0% versus −17.1±0.7%) than non-pregnant females.

Increased longitudinal strain and heart rate are likely result of increased contractility mediated by greater myocardial sympathetic innervation (3). In healthy pregnant females, increased pressure does not result in impaired cardiovascular function, however dysfunctional responses may predict hypertensive disorders of pregnancy.

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This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license.

References

1.VL Meah, JR Cockcroft, K Backx, R Shave, and EJ Stohr, Cardiac output and related haemodynamics during pregnancy: a series of meta-analyses, Heart, Vol. 102, No. 7, 2016, pp. 518-26.
2.K Melchiorre, R Sharma, and B Thilaganathan, Cardiac structure and function in normal pregnancy, Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol, Vol. 24, No. 6, 2012, pp. 413-21.
3.CW Usselman, RJ Skow, BA Matenchuk, RS Chari, CG Julian, MK Stickland, et al., Sympathetic baroreflex gain in normotensive pregnant women, J Appl Physiol (1985), Vol. 119, No. 5, 2015, pp. 468-74.
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Journal
Artery Research
Volume-Issue
20 - C
Pages
109 - 110
Publication Date
2017/12/06
ISSN (Online)
1876-4401
ISSN (Print)
1872-9312
DOI
10.1016/j.artres.2017.10.195How to use a DOI?
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - JOUR
AU  - Victoria L. Meah
AU  - Rob E. Shave
AU  - Karianne Backx
AU  - Eric Stöhr
PY  - 2017
DA  - 2017/12/06
TI  - P194 CARDIOVASCULAR RESPONSES TO INCREASED PRESSURE DURING HEALTHY PREGNANCY
JO  - Artery Research
SP  - 109
EP  - 110
VL  - 20
IS  - C
SN  - 1876-4401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.artres.2017.10.195
DO  - 10.1016/j.artres.2017.10.195
ID  - Meah2017
ER  -