ABC | Volume 113, Nº2, August 2019

Original Article Casonatto et al. Citrulline and post-exercise hypotension Arq Bras Cardiol. 2019; 113(2):218-228 Table 4 – Percentage of responders and non-responders and inter-individual percentage changes (min; max) on Control-Placebo, Control‑Citrulline, Exercise-Placebo and Exercise-Citrulline groups Control-Placebo Control-Citrulline Exercise-Placebo Exercise-Citrulline N Min:Max (%) N Min:Max (%) N Min:Max (%) N Min:Max (%) SBP 60 min Responders 5 (-2;-7) 2 (-2;-4) 7 (-2;-17) 9 (-2;-18) Non-responders 5 (-1;2) 8 (-1;17) 3 (0;10) 1 (-1;-1) Awake Responders 8 (-2;-18) 6 (-4;-16) 6 (-9;-24) 10 (-3;-33) Non-responders 2 (0;9) 4 (5;16) 4 (2;13) 0 - Asleep Responders 8 (-5;-21) 6 (-2;-33) 6 (-8;-32) 9 (-3;-28) Non-responders 2 (4;7) 4 (-1;9) 4 (0;13) 1 (1;1) 24 hours Responders 8 (-5;-18) 6 (-2;-20) 6 (-6;-26) 9 (-2;-31) Non-responders 2 (0;9) 4 (-1;14) 4 (1;11) 1 (-1;-1) DBP 60 min Responders 4 (-3;-13) 1 (-7;-7) 3 (-3;-10) 3 (-3;-13) Non-responders 6 (0;12) 9 (1;14) 7 (-1;18) 7 (-2;22) Awake Responders 5 (-3;-13) 7 (-2;-19) 6 (-3;-21) 10 (-8;-27) Non-responders 5 (-1;10) 3 (0;10) 4 (-1;1) 0 - Asleep Responders 7 (-6;-30) 10 (-1;-31) 8 (-3;-28) 10 (-6;-28) Non-responders 3 (2;5) 0 - 2 (6;6) 0 - 24 hours Responders 6 (-3;-15) 8 (-1;-20) 8 (-3;-22) 10 (-7;-25) Non-responders 4 (-2;6) 2 (5;5) 2 (-2;2) 0 - SBP: systolic blood pressure; DBP: diastolic blood pressure. to report effect sizes for three reasons. First, to present the magnitude of the reported effects in a standardized metric; second, effect sizes allow researchers to draw meta-analytic conclusions by comparing standardized effect sizes across studies, and third, effect sizes from previous studies can be used when planning a new study, providing an indication of the average sample size needed. 32 In the present study, we found that the effect sizes (from the paired t-test [versus rest]) were more consistent in the EC for systolic and diastolic ambulatorial BP response, however, it is important to highlight that for diastolic BP the effects were “large” (> 0.8) for “awake”, “asleep”, and “24 hours” in the EC. Despite some inconsistencies in the "effect size" outcomes for systolic and diastolic BP in the other experimental groups, the percentage of “responders” and “non-responders” and inter-individual percentage changes in the different groups (Table 4) could aid understanding. There were no “non‑responders” in the EC for systolic and diastolic BP responses for “awake” (systolic and diastolic), “asleep” and “24 hours” (diastolic). These responses are important, considering that the BP response following a single bout of exercise has been considered as a simple predictive clinical tool that can help to identify and manage “high responder” and “low responder” subjects to exercise training. 33 Concerning the physiological mechanisms that might be involved in this response, we hypothesized that the vascular resistance reduction due to increased NO concentration could potentiate the PEH. Previous studies reported that oral citrulline supplementation raises plasma arginine concentration and augments NO production by the citrulline-NO cycle. 34,35 It is exactly because of this vasodilation resulting from greater NO release that citrulline oral supplementationmight potentiate the PEH response, especially in hypertensive individuals. It is important to highlight that hypertensive individuals present 223