Abstract: Objective To explore the blood pressure(BP) responses to moderate-intensity treadmill exercise test(TET)in the elderly patients with hypertension, and to find out the cutoff value of BP in moderate-intensity exercise for diagnosis of hypertension. Methods A total of 208 patients who underwent TET in the cardiac rehabilitation clinic of the Jiangsu Province Official Hospital from March 2021 to September 2022 were selected and divided into hypertension group (112 cases) and normal BP group (96 cases). The levels of BP during TET in the two groups were recorded and compared. Multivariate Logistic regression was used to analyze the influencing factors of hypertension. Receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve was drawn and the area under the curve(AUC) was calculated to analyze the moderate-intensity exercise BP value for diagnosis of hypertension. Results There were significant differences in the levels of BP and peak systolic blood pressure (SBP) at stage 1 and 2 of Bruce protocol in TET between hypertension group and normal BP group (P＜0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression showed that the level of SBP at stage 2 of Bruce protocol was independently associated with hypertension. The ROC curve showed that the cut-off value of stage 2 SBP for diagnosis of hypertension was 168.5 mmHg, with a sensitivity of 86.4%,a specificity of 81.8%, an AUC of 0.876. Conclusions In the elderly hypertensive patients, the BP response in TET is significantly higher than that in the patients with normal BP. When the stage 2 SBP of Bruce protocol in TET is ≥ 168.5 mmHg, the possibility of hypertension in this elderly patient should be considered.

Key words: blood pressure, treadmill exercise test, hypertension, aged