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[Psychological and behavior characteristics predicting blood pressure reactivity to mental stress]
1Unité médico-psychologique, hôpital Broussais, Paris.
Insights
Hypertensive individuals exhibit prolonged elevated blood pressure after mental stress compared to normotensives. This cardiovascular reactivity is linked to psychological and behavioral factors, highlighting stress management
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular physiology
- Psychophysiology
- Behavioral medicine
Context:
- Investigates cardiovascular reactivity to mental stress in hypertensive (HT) and normotensive (NT) individuals.
- Assesses psychological and behavioral factors influencing blood pressure response.
- Utilizes computer-assisted mental stress tasks and validated psychometric instruments.
Purpose:
- To compare cardiovascular reactivity (Pressure Reactivity - PR) between HT and NT groups.
- To explore correlations between PR and psychological/behavioral characteristics.
- To understand the persistence of blood pressure elevation post-stress.
Summary:
- Systolic blood pressure (SBP) increased in both NT and HT groups during mental stress.
- SBP elevation persisted in the HT group after stress, unlike the NT group.
- PR was hypothesized to be greater in HT and correlated with psychological traits.
Impact:
- Provides insights into the psychophysiological mechanisms underlying hypertension.
- Suggests potential targets for stress-management interventions in hypertensive patients.
- Contributes to understanding individual differences in cardiovascular response to stress.
Abstract:
This study was conducted with 58 subjects (31 males and 27 females): a sample of 37 normotensives (NT) (mean age 36 +/- 11) and a sample of 21 hypertensives (HT) without any antihypertensive medication (mean age 46 +/- 9). Cardiovascular reactivity was measured during a sequence of 3 computer assisted mental stress tasks (visual-motor tasks, maze test). Before and following the stress tasks the subjects were asked to respond on the same computer to psychological test and questionnaires measuring anxiety, depression (H.A.D. inventory) type A behavior (impatience, competition and drive for success; Bortner's scale), locus of control (attribution of success or failure to internal or external factors; Levenson's scale), and coping mechanisms used in response to everyday life stresses (Rosenzweig Picture Frustration Test, adapted by S. Consoli and E. Albert). Measurements of systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate were obtained automatically every minute during the entire computer session with a Colin Press-Mate BP 8800 sphygmomanometer. Pressure reactivity (PR) was defined as the relative difference between BP measured during mental stress and BP measured during non-stress condition (the reference period). Our hypotheses were that PR would be greater in HT than in NT, and that PR would be correlated with various psychological and behavioral characteristics. During the stress session, SBP in NT increased from 119.8 to 123.7 mmHg (p < 0.001) and in HT from 147.4 to 152 mmHg (p < 0.05): there was no significant difference between the two samples but in HT, SBP elevation persisted after the stress session, contrary to the NT, whose SBP quickly decreased to the reference values.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)