Sex and Ethnic/Racial Differences in Blood Pressure and HRV

The purpose of the study was to investigate sex and ethnic/racial differences of cardiovascular function and blood pressure regulation in 293 subjects from Europe, Western Africa, Western Asia, and India, recruited from a student population of the V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University. All the participants gave written informed consent. It was found that African women had increased blood pressure and its increment during the orthostatic test was more than in other women. Africans had high LnHF power, indicating cardiovagal activity, but its withdrawal was less in African than in European men. The LnHF power was less in Arab men than in all other studied groups in the supine position. The increment of blood pressure and upright blood pressure were higher in Arab than in European and Indian men. The pulse pressure of Indians was lower than of the other groups in the supine position. Our findings support the hypothesis of different mechanisms of cardiovascular functioning and regulation between sexes and ethnicity/races. The physiological differentiation between them is definitely needed for the future of individualized medicine.