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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 90/4/587    most recent expphysiol.2005.030387v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Gabbett, T. J Articles by Gass, G. C Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Gabbett, T. J Articles by Gass, G. C Related Collections Human, Environmental & Exercise

¹ Athlete and Coach Support Services, Queensland Academy of Sport, Queensland, Australia ² School of Physiotherapy and Exercise Science, Griffith University Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

The purpose of this study was to investigate the short-, medium- and long-term reproducibility of cardiovascular responses during 90° head-up tilt (HUT) in healthy older men. Twenty-eight healthy male subjects aged 69 (95% confidence intervals, 68–70) years participated in the study. Eight subjects underwent duplicate 90° HUT tests on consecutive days, while 20 subjects underwent four 90° HUT tests performed at baseline, and after 1 week, 1 month and 1 year. Following a 20-min supine resting period, each subject was rapidly tilted to the upright vertical position (90° HUT) and remained in that position for 15 min. Beat-by-beat recordings of mean (MAP), systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) pressures were made via Finapres, while heart rate (HR) was monitored continuously from an electrocardiogram. No significant test–retest differences (P > 0.05) were observed for the changes in HR, MAP, SBP or DBP during 90° HUT. These measurements demonstrated high reproducibility (intraclass correlation coefficient, r = 0.91–0.99, P < 0.05). The supine resting and tilted HR, MAP, SBP and DBP over the 1-week, 1-month and 1-year period were not significantly different (P > 0.05) from baseline, and demonstrated high reproducibility (intraclass correlation coefficient, r = 0.82–0.98, P < 0.05). The results of this study demonstrate that in healthy older men, cardiovascular responses during orthostasis are highly reproducible, and this reproducibility is maintained over a 12-month period. These findings demonstrate that the 90° HUT test offers a reproducible method of monitoring longitudinal orthostatic responses in healthy older men.

(Received 27 February 2005; accepted after revision 7 April 2005; first published online 15 April 2005)
Corresponding author T. Gabbett: Queensland Academy of Sport, PO Box 956, Sunnybank, Queensland 4109, Australia. Email: tim.gabbett{at}qld.gov.au