A client with a diagnosis of secondary hypertension has begun to experience signs and symptoms that are consistent with decreased cardiac output. Which of the following determinants of cardiac output is hypertension most likely to affect directly?

Question

A) Preload
B) Afterload
C) Contractility
D) Heart rate

Answer 1

Ans: B
Feedback:
The afterload is the pressure or tension work of the heart. It is the pressure that the heart must generate to move blood into the aorta. The systemic arterial blood pressure is the main source of afterload work on the left heart. As blood pressure increases, the left ventricle must overcome greater resistance in order to pump blood into the circulatory system. Preload represents the volume work of the heart. It is the amount of blood that the heart must pump with each beat and represents the volume of blood stretching the ventricular muscle fibers at the end of diastole. Heart rate and cardiac contractility are strictly cardiac factors, meaning they originate in the heart, although they are controlled by various neural and humoral mechanisms.