Abstract
ABSTRACT
The relationship between blood pressure in the laboratory (both at rest and in response to laboratory tasks) and ambulatory blood pressure at home and at work was evaluated. One hundred nineteen normotensive and unmedicated mild‐moderate hypertensive black and white females and males participated in laboratory blood pressure monitoring at rest and during four challenging tasks (structured interview, video game, bicycle exercise, and cold pressor test) as well as ambulatory blood pressure monitoring while at home and at work. Baseline blood pressure taken while subjects were at rest was the strongest predictor of ambulatory systolic blood pressure (r=.64) and diastolic blood pressure (r=.77) at work. Among reactivity tasks the strongest predictors of ambulatory blood pressure in the total population were the structured interview and the video game (both psychological tasks) followed by the cold pressor test. Racial comparisons, however, determined that the cold pressor test predicted diastolic blood pressure significantly better for blacks (r=.73) than for whites (r=.40), suggesting a possible difference in blood pressure regulation.
