Cardiovascular Response to a Modern Roller Coaster Ride
- Juergen Kuschyk, MD
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juergen.kuschyk@med.ma.uni-heidelberg.de
- Dariusch Haghi, MD
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Department of Medical Statistics
- Martin Borggrefe, MD;
- Christian Wolpert, MD;
- Joachim Brade, MSc
-
1st Department of Medicine-Cardiology
University Hospital of Mannheim
Mannheim, Germany
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- AGING
- BLOOD PRESSURE
- CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
- HEART RATE
To the Editor: Cardiovascular responses to older roller coaster rides have been studied,1 but technological advances have created rides that generate greater physical forces. We investigated cardiovascular responses to a modern roller coaster ride.
Methods
Healthy volunteers aged 18 years or older were recruited from consecutive amusement park visitors intending to ride a roller coaster (Expedition GeForce, Holiday Park, Hassloch, Germany). Exclusion criteria were pregnant state; symptoms or history of cardiovascular disease or cardiac risk factors; history of syncope or presyncope, migraine, epilepsy, or other neurological disorder; use of medication other than oral contraceptives; measured blood pressure greater than 160 mm Hg systolic or 100 mm Hg diastolic, or abnormal cardiac or pulmonary examination findings immediately before the ride. Of 56 consecutive participants, 55 (37 men) were included in the study (Table 1); 1 was excluded due to history of cardiac disorder.
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Table 1. Population Characteristics (N = 55)
All participants underwent …
