Abstract
Exaggerated cardiovascular reactions to acute psychological stress may be involved in the etiology of cardiovascular pathology. The present analysis examined the association between the magnitude of systolic and diastolic blood pressure reactions to stress and cardiovascular disease mortality. Participants were 431 (229 women) from the West of Scotland Twenty-07 Study, aged 63 years at the time of stress testing, where blood pressure was measured during resting baseline and mental arithmetic stress. Participants' vital status was tracked for the next 16 years, during which time 38 had died of cardiovascular disease. Both systolic and diastolic blood pressure reactions were positively associated with cardiovascular disease mortality. This association could reflect the long-term erosive effects of exaggerated reactivity on the vasculature as well as its short-term capacity to trigger acute cardiovascular events.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1444-1448 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Psychophysiology |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| Early online date | 7 Sept 2012 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2012 |
Access to Document
- Phillips 12 Psychophysiology
‘This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Carroll, D., Ginty, A. T., Der, G., Hunt, K., Benzeval, M. and Phillips, A. C. (2012), Increased blood pressure reactions to acute mental stress are associated with 16-year cardiovascular disease mortality. Psychophysiology, 49: 1444–1448, which has been published in final form at: 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2012.01463.x. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving' Eligibility for repository checked December 2014