Higher exercise SBP response linked to incident depressive symptoms

Increased exercise systolic blood pressure (SBP) response may predict the incidence of clinically relevant depressive symptoms, suggests a recent study.

“An exaggerated exercise SBP, which is potentially modifiable, may be associated with incident depressive symptoms via an increased pulsatile pressure load on the brain,” the investigators said. “However, the association between exaggerated exercise SBP and incident depressive symptoms is unknown.”

To determine whether exaggerated exercise SBP was associated with a higher risk of depressive symptoms over time, longitudinal data from the population-based Maastricht Study, with only individuals free of depressive symptoms at baseline included (n=2,121; mean age, 59.5 years; 51.3 percent men) were analysed.

The investigators measured exercise SBP at baseline with a submaximal exercise cycle test and calculated a composite score of exercise SBP based on four standardized exercise SBP measures: SBP at moderate workload, SBP at peak exercise, SBP change per minute during exercise, and SBP 4 min after exercise. Finally, they determined clinically relevant depressive symptoms at follow-up, defined as a Patient Health Questionnaire score of at least 10.

Of the participants, 175 (8.3 percent) demonstrated incident clinically relevant depressive symptoms after a mean follow-up of 3.9 years. A 1-standard deviation higher exercise SBP composite score correlated with a higher incidence of clinically relevant depressive symptoms (hazard ratio, 1.27, 95 percent confidence interval, 1.03–1.54).

“Results were adjusted for age, sex, education level, glucose metabolism status, lifestyle, cardiovascular risk factors, resting SBP, and cardiorespiratory fitness,” the investigators noted.