Assessing post-cardiac stress test heart rate recovery and systolic blood pressure recovery in patients suffering from vasovagal syncope

Background and purpose: Syncope is caused by disorder in blood flow to the brain and usually occurs in autonomic system dysfunction. On the other side, heart rate and systolic blood pressure response during cardiac exercise test as well as recovery stage depend upon autonomic nervous system. This research compares heart rate recovery (HRR) and systolic blood pressure recovery (SBPR) following exercise test among patients with vasovagal syncope and normal individuals. Research methodology: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 31 patients with vasovagal syncope confirmed by head up tilt test (HUTT) and 32 normal individuals were investigated within 2015- 2017. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures, as well as heart rate were measured for both groups in the first and third minutes post exercise test; and any changes in blood pressure and heart rate were compared. Findings: 48.39 and 51.61 of the patients group were female and male, respectively; and 59.37 and 40.63 of control group consisted of female and male. Mean age range in experimental group was 39.31 and 34.45 for control group. Mean HRR and mean SBPR for minute one was higher in patient group than control group (P value=0.1) and P value=0.12) respectively; while, mean HRR and SBPR for minute three showed larger in control group than the patients (P value=0.31 and 0.1) respectively. Conclusion: Patients suffering from vasovagal syncope showed different recovery test response than control group due to autonomic system dysfunction. © 2019 by the authors; licensee Modestum Ltd., UK.