Medindo a press？o arterial em exercício aeróbico: subsídios para reabilita？？o cardíaca

background: institutional documents recommend that hemodynamic variables - heart rate (hr) and systolic (sap) and diastolic arterial pressure (dap) - be routinely controlled at the aerobic part of supervised exercise sessions for coronary disease patients. objective: a) to determine the pattern and reproducibility of the blood pressure (bp) throughout 15 minutes of physical exercise at constant and moderate intensity; and b) to compare the bp measurement obtained with digital and conventional device during the exercise. methods: thirty adult individuals of both sexes (65±11 yrs) were assessed for 15 minutes during lower-limb cycle ergometry and the bp was measured every 2 minutes, between the 3rd and the 13th minutes, using a tango digital sphygmomanometer (suntech, usa) and in the 14th minute, using a mercury column sphygmomanometer. seven days later, at similar time of the day, six individuals had the test repeated to evaluate reproducibility. results: whereas the dap did not vary throughout the exercise (p > 0.05), sap increased from the 3rd to 7th minute (146±4.1 versus 158±4.5 mmhg, p<0.05) and thereafter remained practically constant. the digital and conventional measurements showed a strong correlation - r = 0.83 for sap and 0.84 for dap - with no differences for sap (163±4.5 versus 162±4.3 mmhg; p >0.05) and a small difference for dap (72±2.4 versus 78±2.3 mmhg; p<0.05). conclusion: for exercises of moderate and constant intensity in a cycle ergometer with a 15-minute duration, bp measurements must be carried out from the 7th minute on. the digital measurements with the tango equipment and those obtained with the conventional mercury-column sphygmomanometer were, for clinical purposes, very similar and reproducible.