Influences of sex and age on cardiovascular responses during stress.

&NA; The present investigation examined the influence of sex and age on blood pressure and heart rate responses in 125 women, 93 men, 121 girls, and 96 boys to three standardized stressors: serial subtraction, mirror‐image tracing, and isometric handgrip. With baseline measures and body mass index controlled for, analyses of covariance showed that adults had greater systolic blood pressure responses than did children; men had greater blood pressure responses to all stressors than did women; and high school boys had greater systolic blood pressure responses than did high school girls. In addition, adults had smaller heart rate responses during isometric handgrip than did children, and high school students had smaller heart rate responses during all tasks than did the remaining, younger students. These results show that sex and age are important determinants of the magnitude of cardiovascular adjustments during stressors. The implications of these results are discussed in light of sex differences in coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality.

[1]  S. Manuck,et al.  Acute psychophysiologic reactivity and risk of cardiovascular disease: a review and methodologic critique. , 1984, Psychological bulletin.

[2]  E. Haber,et al.  The heart and cardiovascular system , 1986 .

[3]  O. Bertel,et al.  Decreased Beta‐Adrenoreceptor Responsiveness as Related to Age, Blood Pressure, and Plasma Catecholamines in Patients with Essential Hypertension , 1980, Hypertension.

[4]  J. Eschweiler,et al.  Behavioral Correlates of Cardiovascular Reactivity in School Children , 1986 .

[5]  R. Intrieri,et al.  Age differences in cardiovascular reactivity under active coping conditions. , 1986, Psychophysiology.

[6]  G. Berenson,et al.  Studies of Blood Pressures in Children, Ages 5–14 Years, in a Total Biracial Community , 1976, Circulation.

[7]  M. Ziegler,et al.  Response of norepinephrine and blood pressure to stress increases with age. , 1978, Journal of gerontology.

[8]  J. Kotchen,et al.  Correlates of Adolescent Blood Pressure at Five‐Year Follow‐Up , 1980, Hypertension.

[9]  Karen A. Matthews,et al.  Handbook of stress, reactivity, and cardiovascular disease , 1986 .

[10]  J. Blumenthal,et al.  Relationships among age, sex, the type A behavior pattern, and cardiovascular reactivity. , 1985, Journal of gerontology.

[11]  L. Benjamin,et al.  Facts and artifacts in using analysis of covariance to "undo" the law of initial values. , 1967, Psychophysiology.

[12]  R. Kalkhoff,et al.  Influence of sex and obesity on plasma catecholamine response to isometric exercise. , 1982, The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism.

[13]  B. C. Lacey,et al.  THE LAW OF INITIAL VALUE IN THE LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF AUTONOMIC CONSTITUTION: REPRODUCIBILITY OF AUTONOMIC RESPONSES AND RESPONSE PATTERNS OVER A FOUR‐YEAR INTERVAL * , 1962, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[14]  M. A. Haw.  The changing risk of disease in women: edited by Ellen B. Gold. D. C. Heath, Lexington, Mass. $35.00 , 1986 .

[15]  K. Matthews,et al.  Sex differences in physiological responses to stress and in coronary heart disease: a causal link? , 1987, Psychophysiology.

[16]  E. Barrett-Connor,et al.  The sex differential in mortality from all causes and ischemic heart disease. , 1983, American journal of epidemiology.