Blood pressure changes during acute mental stress in hypertensive subjects using the Oxford intra-arterial system

The Oxford intra-arterial system was used to measure blood pressure changes during mental stress testing in 20 hypertensive subjects. All subjects underwent a Stroop test, and in nine subjects, a cine film test was also performed. The Oxford system is particularly suited to measuring blood pressure accurately during mental stress testing because (i) it measures blood pressure directly and continuously, and (ii) it causes relatively little subjective awareness of experimental apparatus. The method was found to be safe and acceptable to the patients. Blood pressure increased by a mean of 26% during the Stroop test, but the range of responses was wide (9–59%). The mean increase during the cine film test was only 12%. Subjective stress scores were higher for the cine test. These results are discussed in terms of personal control over the stressor, and it is argued that accurate means of blood pressure measurement will be needed before the possible links between stressor blood pressure responses and essential hypertension can be further explored.