Impaired cardiovascular recovery following stress predicts 3-year increases in blood pressure

Objective To assess whether variation in the rate of cardiovascular recovery following exposure to acute psychological stress predicts changes in blood pressure longitudinally, independently of blood pressure at baseline and other covariates. Design A 3-year longitudinal study. Participants A total of 209 men and women aged 45–59 years at baseline, with no history of cardiovascular disease including hypertension. Method Measurement of blood pressure, heart rate, heart rate variability, cardiac index and total peripheral resistance at rest, during two moderately stressful behavioural tasks and up to 45 min post-stress. Stress reactivity was defined as the difference in values between tasks and baseline, and post-stress recovery as the difference between recovery levels and baseline. Outcome measures Resting blood pressure measured at baseline and 3 years later. Seven individuals had been prescribed hypertensive medication on follow-up. Results Increases in systolic blood pressure (SBP) were predicted by impaired post-stress recovery of SBP (P < 0.001), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (P < 0.001) and total peripheral resistance (P = 0.003), independently of baseline blood pressure, age, gender, socio-economic status, hypertensive medication, body mass and smoking. The adjusted odds of an increase in SBP ≥ 5 mmHg were 3.50 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.19 to 10.8] for individuals with poor compared with effective post-stress recovery of SBP. Three-year increases in diastolic pressure were predicted by impaired recovery of SBP (P < 0.001) and DBP (P = 0.009) pressure and by heart rate variability during tasks (P = 0.002), independently of covariates. Conclusions Impaired post-stress recovery and less consistently heightened acute stress reactivity may index disturbances in the regulation of cardiovascular stress responses that contribute to longitudinal changes in blood pressure in middle-aged men and women.

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