Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Women have a higher prevalence of coronary microvascular dysfunction compared to men. Assessing the coronary microvasculature is commonly conducted using invasive testing, however these tests demonstrate poor feasibility relative to population demands. Thus, non-invasively measuring peripheral microvascular function has been proposed as a novel screening method to regulate patients requiring invasive testing. However standardization of peripheral microvascular testing is limited, specifically, the effects of clinical exercise testing on its validity is unclear. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine if clinical exercise testing affects peripheral microvascular function, and if this response is further influenced by sex. In a cross sectional design, patients will be grouped based on whether a maximal exercise test will or will not be performed prior to vascular assessment. Patients will undergo non-invasive microvascular assessment by completing a reactive hyperemia test using finger-based arterial tonometry. Given that conduit artery endothelial functionhas been previously shown to beattenuated following maximal exercise in young healthy women but not men (Hwang, 2012), it is hypothesized that women will have greater microvascularimpairment following acute exercise compared to men. This study will help improve the standardization of non-invasive microvascular assessments within clinical settings to advance the screening capacity of both men and women suffering from coronary microvascular dysfunction.