Influence of physical training on blood pressure, plasma renin, angiotensin and catecholamines in patients with ischaemic heart disease

Eighteen patients with ischaemic heart disease were trained for 3 months, three times a week. The effectiveness of the training programme was demonstrated by increases of 27% in peak oxygen uptake and 29% in exercise duration, and by a decrease in resting and submaximal heart rates. Blood pressure, however, was not significantly affected during the training period. At rest and at submaximal exercise plasma renin activity (PRA) was lower after training. Plasma angiotensin I concentration (PA I) and angiotensin II concentration (PA II) were not significantly affected. Plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC), only measured at rest, was not significantly changed after the training period, while plasma norepinephrine (PNE) and epinephrine (PE) concentrations were significantly decreased, but only at high levels of exercise. A reduced sympathetic tone after training, suggested by the lower heart rates and the tendency to a decrease in PNE, is a likely explanation for the decrease in PRA. However, despite this decrease, PA I, PA II, and PAC were not significantly changed after training; the reason for this disrepancy is unknown.