Different Cardio-Selective ß-Blockers and the Prevention of Exaggerated Blood Pressure Response During Exercise: A Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to analyze the role of various ß-blockers in managing exercise-induced blood pressure escalations, referred to as exaggerated blood pressure response (eBPR). Despite the importance of this phenomenon, there is limited data on the efficacy of ß-blockers in controlling eBPR.

METHOD: Our retrospective cohort for this study comprised 2,803 individuals who underwent treadmill tests from January 2016 to February 2018. A further subgroup analysis of 1,258 patients receiving ß-blocker treatment was performed to evaluate the influence of different ß-blockers on eBPR.

RESULTS: The results demonstrated that ß-blockers play a significant role in mitigating the occurrence of eBPR (P = 0.026), irrespective of the specific type of ß-blocker. Additionally, no significant variance was observed in the development of eBPR among the different ß-blocker groups (P = 0.532 for systolic blood pressure (BP); P = 0.068 for diastolic BP). This finding remained consistent even among the 992 hypertensive patients, where no notable association was found between the type of ß-blocker and the development of eBPR (P = 0.736 for systolic BP; P = 0.349 for diastolic BP). It is noteworthy that patients using ß-blockers had unique clinical and demographic attributes.

CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that ß-blockers can potentially deter the development of eBPR during physical activity, a benefit that is consistent across all types of ß-blockers. The study sheds light on prospective randomized studies on the use of eBPR as a new treatment target.