Effect of Sympathetic Autonomic Stress from the Cold Pressor Test on Left Ventricular Function in Young Healthy Adults

There is a dearth of studies investigating the effect of sympathetic activation on left ventricular function. This study aimed to investigate the effect of sympathetic autonomic stress on left ventricular function in young healthy adults. Fifty-six normotensive healthy participants (age 23.55 ± 3.82 years) took part in the study after giving informed consent. After obtaining baseline measurements, heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP), peripheral saturation of oxygen (SpO2) and left ventricular function (assessed by means of ejection fraction (EF) obtained by transthoracic 2-D echocardiography) were determined before and following sympathetic activation using cold pressor test (CPT). Exposure to CPT led to significant increase (P < 0.0001) in HR (70.4 ± 10.7 bpm to 91.6 ± 14.8 bpm), SBP (118 ± 8 mmHg to 138 ± 14 mmHg) and DBP (71 ± 7 mmHg to 91 ± 11 mmHg). Participants' EDV (101.1 ± 15.8 ml to 104.2 ± 19.3 mL), ESV (38.7 ± 9.1 mL to 40.3 ± 11.6 mL), SpO2 (99.5 ± 0.79% to 99.5 ± 0.77%) and EF (61.9 ± 5.9% to 60.9 ± 6.4%) were only slightly changed (P > 0.05). However, cardiac output (4.3 ± 0.9 L/min to 5.4 ± 1.4 L/min) and cardiac index (3.7 ± 0.8 L/min per m to 4.5 ± 1.4 L/min per m ) increased significantly (P < 0.0001). We conclude that sympathetic stress induced by cold pressor test has marginal effect on ejection fraction and fractional shortening while increasing cardiac output and cardiac index in young healthy adults.