title: Characterisation of post exercise pressure response curves in the pedal arteries of patients with peripheral vascular disease.
abstract: The response of the systolic pressure in the pedal arteries to the stress of exercise is one of several ways of assessing the severity of peripheral vascular disease. We have examined 2607 such pressure response curves in an attempt to produce a simple method of response classification. Regression analysis of the curves has shown that errors are least when the regression used is the same order as the number of data points. We conclude that post exercise response curves can be adequately classified from three data points, one obtained within two minutes of the cessation of exercise, a second obtained between 4 and 6 minutes from the end of exercise and a third taken 10 minutes after exercise. The use of a response curve indexed to systemic systolic pressure was not found to produce a better correlation between full and three point curves, though the absolute classification differed slightly from that obtained from the non-indexed curve. Neither classification system proved significantly superior in relating to the degree of arterial disease.
mesh_terms: D001158:Arteries; D001794:Blood Pressure; D001916:Brachial Artery / Q000502:physiology; D003971:Diastole; D007383:Intermittent Claudication / Q000145:classification / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007866:Leg / Q000098:blood supply*; D005082:Physical Exertion; D013599:Systole; D013997:Time Factors