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Blood pressure, heart rate, and echocardiographic parameters of left ventricular size and shortening were measured both under baseline conditions and during handgrip exercise (50% maximum handgrip effort held to fatigue) in 20 normal women (20 through 29 years of age). As a group, there was a significant increase in heart rate (72 +/- 10 vs 83 +/- 12; P less than .001), systolic blood pressure (111 +/- 8 vs 133 +/- 14 mm Hg; P less than .001), diastolic blood pressure (67 +/- 8 vs 89 +/- 12 mm Hg; P less than .001), and calculated cardiac output (4.3 +/- 1.5 vs 5.2 +/- 1.7 liters/minute; P less than .005). There was no significant change in left ventricular internal dimension in diastole or systole, shortening fraction, or calculated stroke volume. The average group response of an increase in cardiac output secondary to an increase in heart rate is similar to that of male subjects in their second decade. Individual variability in responses was of specific interest since only three of the 20 women demonstrated a totally characteristic response to handgrip exercise. Handgrip exercise in young women may not provide a uniformly characteristic response from which to predict hemodynamic changes in a given individual and may lead to clinical misinterpretation if appropriate caution is not used.

Echocardiography and systolic time-interval measurements were performed to assess left ventricular size and function in 15 women receiving oral contraceptives and in a control group. There was no significant difference in heart rate (78 +/- 9 verus 72 +/- 12 beats/min), blood pressure (116 +/- 8/72 +/- 7 versus 110 +/- 11/67 +/- 9 mmHg), left ventricular ejection time/preejection period (LVET/PEP) (0.31 +/- 0.05 versus 0.29 +/- 0.05), left ventricular internal dimension in diastrol (4.3 +/- 0.3 versus 4.3 +/- 0.5 cm) or systole (2.7 +/- 0.3 versus 2.6 +/- 0.4 cm), shortening fraction (0.37 +/- 0.05 versus 0.41 +/- 0.05), or mean normalized velocity of circumferential shortening (1.30 +/- 0.21 versus 1.31 +/- 0.23). Therefore, young, healthy women receiving oral contraceptives do not appear to be at increased risk with respect to abnormalities of ventricular volume or contraction.