The cross-spectral analysis of heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) variabilities provides "amplitude" and "phase" related measures. Compared to the amplitude measure, that is the baroreflex gain, the phase related measure characterizing the time lag between HR and BP oscillations has been studied to a much lesser extent. A population of 103 patients (73 men, 30 women, aged 53 +/- 12, range 20-82 years) referred for the management of coronary artery disease and/or hypertension were studied. In each subject, electrocardiogram and BP recordings were obtained in the supine and sitting positions of 5 minutes of rest (spontaneous respiration), 3 minutes of controlled respiration at 0.1 Hz (slow-controlled respiration), and 3 minutes of controlled respiration at 0.33 Hz (fast-controlled respiration). The frequency of maximum coherence (above the arbitrary threshold of 0.5) of BP and RR interval variabilities was searched between 0.033-0.133 Hz and 0.200-0.400 Hz to obtain baroreflex gain and phase shift in low and high frequency bands, respectively. Mean phase shifts of -79.1 and -67.0 degrees (-2.4 and -2.1 s) were found during slow-controlled respiration in the supine and sitting body positions, respectively. The mean phase shift between systolic BP and RR interval in the low frequency band was found between 83 and -109 degrees for body positions and respiration regimes. The actual baroreflex related time lag between systolic BP and RR variations was found between 3.5 and 5.1 seconds. The study concludes that the appropriate, and not always easy, selection of the frequency of maximum coherence between BP and HR oscillation is crucial for an accurate cross-spectral assessment of baroreflex sensitivity.