OBJECTIVE: The objective of the present study was to verify the effect of tobacco smoking abstinence on cardiovascular responses to progressive submaximal physical exercise in sedentary female smokers. METHODS: Systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and heart rate (HR) were non-invasively measured in young non-smoking women (NSW, n = 7) and smoking women (SW, n = 7), with and without tobacco abstinence for 24 hours, at rest, during the accomplishment of a submaximal bicycle ergometric test and recovery period. RESULTS: At rest, DBP and HR were higher in the SW group (76 ± 1 mmHg and 86 ± 5 bpm) when compared to the NSW group (68 ± 2 mmHg and 72 ± 2 bpm). After 24 hours of no tobacco use, the groups presented similar values. During exercise, SBP and HR increased in the studied groups. DBP was higher in the SW group (~15%) in relation to the NSW group in all periods of exercise training. In the abstinence period, DBP only increased in the last load of exercise. During recovery period, in basal condition and 24h-abstinence, both DBP and HR were higher in the SW group when compared to the NSW group. CONCLUSION: These results show that young female smokers present harmful consequences in hemodynamic parameters at rest and in response to submaximal exercise. These findings can be partly reverted by short-term abstinence from tobacco use.
Ergometric test; Heart rate; Arterial pressure
