1. To determine the reproducibility of a mental arithmetic stress test and a handgrip exercise test, we studied the responses of blood pressure, heart rate, forearm blood flow and plasma catecholamines on two occasions, with an interval of at least 1 week, in 24 normotensive and 22 hypertensive subjects.
2. The se of a single observation of the percentage changes of blood pressure ranged from 3.9 to 9.3% in normotensive subjects and from 3.9 to 7.4% in hypertensive subjects in both tests. For heart rate, these values were 4.9–12.3% in the normotensive subjects and 4.8–5.7% in the hypertensive subjects. However, there was a wide individual scatter of these haemodynamic responses during both tests. The forearm blood flow, only measured during mental arithmetic, had an se of a single observation of 33.7%.
3. In 10 normotensive subjects the se of a single observation of the change in plasma noradrenaline was 0.16 nmol/l during handgrip exercise and 0.09 nmol/l during mental arithmetic. The corresponding values for plasma adrenaline were 0.04 and 0.05 nmol/l.
4. In conclusion, although both tests showed a rather low se of a single observation for the blood pressure and heart rate responses in normo- and hyper-tensive subjects, there was a considerable individual variability. If related to the mean forearm blood flow responses, the se of a single observation of the forearm blood flow response was of similar magnitude. The limited intra-individual reproducibility of both tests should be borne in mind when interpreting pharmacological intervention studies or studies evaluating sympathoadrenal reactivity in cardiovascular disorders.
