The exercise pressor response and cardiac autonomic function in young healthy Hispanic adults

Hispanic population comprises 19.1% of the US population. It is the largest ethnic population in the United States and is predicted to comprise one third of US population by the year 2050. Incorporating the larger part of the US population, Hispanic population is at a high risk of developing various risk factors such as hypertension, obesity and type 2 diabetes overburdened by high incidence of uncontrolled hypertension, increasing the health concern in this population in the coming years. However, no studies have examined autonomic function and its influence in Hispanic population. The following two studies in this thesis are dedicated in examining the autonomic function in Hispanic adults. In the first study, we examined the exercise pressor response during static handgrip exercise, muscle metaboreflex activation during post exercise ischemia and cold pressor response in young healthy Hispanic/Latino adults and non-Hispanic White adults. We found that the exercise pressor response and muscle metaboreflex activation are preserved in young healthy Hispanic/Latino adults while cold pressor response is exaggerated in them. In the second study, we examined the baroreflex sensitivity by sequence method and heart rate variability in time and frequency domain in young healthy Hispanic/Latino and non-Hispanic White adults. In this study, we discovered the baroreflex sensitivity and heart rate variability to be preserved in young healthy Hispanic adults. Thorough examination of our two studies suggests that the augmented sympathoexcitation to non-exercise stimulus (cold pressor response) can be one of the possible mechanisms for the higher health issues in this population.