EFFECT OF ISOMETRIC HAND GRIP TEST ON BLOOD PRESSURE IN YOUNG HEALTHY MEDICAL STUDENTS

Abstract

Background: Isometric hand grip test is one of the physiologic tests among many that can be used to study the cardiovascular response to stress of an individual. The aim of the study was to study the effect of Isometric hand grip test on systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and mean blood pressure, as well as to assess the difference in response between males and females and to evaluate the response in those who have a history of hypertension in the family.

Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 123 medical students of first year and second year in KIST Medical College from September 2019 to February 2020. Students were asked to perform isometric hand grip exercise and maximum isometric tension (tmax) was recorded. Blood pressure (BP) was measured from the non-exercising arm. The results were analyzed by using SPSS version 20. Paired t test and independent t tests were used to analyse the results.

Results: Males had higher resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure than females (p value <.001). The increase in diastolic blood pressure between males and females was statistically significant (p value =.005). The increase in systolic and diastolic pressure between students with and without family history of hypertension was found to be statistically significant.

Conclusions: Both systolic pressure and diastolic pressure increased during isometric handgrip test in all the normal healthy adults but the increase was much more in those subjects who had family history of hypertension.