title: Twenty-four-hour ambulatory assessment of heart rate and blood pressure in chronic PTSD and non-PTSD veterans.
abstract: This study examined 24-hr levels of ambulatory heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) in 2 groups of male veterans: 19 with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and 17 who never met criteria for PTSD. The relationships between diagnostic status, basal cardiovascular activity, and cardiovascular reactivity to stress were examined. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses revealed that the PTSD group had higher resting HR than the non-PTSD group. Moreover, the PTSD group showed greater BP reactivity during times of affective distress than the non-PTSD group. The health care implications of these findings are discussed, as are directions for future research.
authors.affiliation: National Center for PTSD/VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts 02131-4817, USA. todd.buckley@med.va.gov
authors.forename: Todd C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Buckley
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Holohan
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Greif
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bedard
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suvak
mesh_terms: D001794:Blood Pressure; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014481:United States; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology; D014744:Vietnam