title: Cardiovascular and immune responses to acute psychological stress in young and old women: a meta-analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the relationships between cardiovascular and natural killer (NK) cell number changes on acute psychological stress in women.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data from eight different studies were analyzed. A total of 128 healthy female subjects, 85 younger (18-45 years) and 43 older (49-87 years), had been subjected to a speech stressor (N = 80) or a mental effort stressor (N = 48), mental arithmetic, or the Stroop test. Correlations between changes in NK cell numbers, systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure, and heart rate (HR) were computed. Meta-analysis programs were used to study correlations across studies and to examine whether correlations differed with stressors or age.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In all studies, significant increases over baseline were observed for each variable. Across studies, the mean weighted r between changes in HR, DBP, and SBP was medium (rw = .25) to large (rw = .64). A medium to large average correlation between HR and NK changes (rw = .37) was observed, whereas average correlations of changes in NK cell numbers with blood pressure changes were small to medium (rw < or = .23). Correlations between changes in NK cell numbers and cardiovascular variables were homogeneous across studies, whereas mutual correlations between cardiovascular variables were heterogeneous. One moderator variable showed itself: correlations between HR and DBP reactions were larger in studies with older than younger subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  NK cell changes and HR responses induced by acute stress in women are regulated, to some extent, by the same mechanisms. Neither the type of stressor nor age seem to be very important when considering correlations between NK cell and cardiovascular changes. This study integrates information about NK cell and cardiovascular responses in women that can be used as reference material in future studies.
authors.affiliation: The National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Denver, Colorado, USA.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Benschop
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Geenen
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Mills
authors.forename: B D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Naliboff
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Kiecolt-Glaser
authors.forename: T B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Herbert
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: van der Pompe
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Matthews
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Godaert
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Gilmore
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Glaser
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Heijnen
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Dopp
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Bijlsma
authors.forename: G F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Solomon
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Cacioppo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011598:Psychoneuroimmunology; D012016:Reference Values; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications* / Q000276:immunology