Cardiovascular response during postural change in the elderly.

In order to evaluate the heart rate and blood pressure response during sitting and standing, as well as during the change from sitting to standing, we studied 40 healthy men and women, aged 60-76 years, by means of a noninvasive beat-to-beat blood pressure tracking cuff. Heart rate and blood pressure curves immediately after standing exhibited pronounced flattening relative to a younger population, with no differences between men and women. Only four subjects showed systolic blood pressure drops of at least 15 mmHg in response to standing. Both handgrip and mental arithmetic significantly modified the cardiovascular response from sitting to standing, raising the possibility that individuals with orthostatic hypotension and impaired circulatory reflexes could be trained to utilize behavioral techniques as a means of preventing blood pressure from dropping too far during orthostasis.