Chronic life stress, cardiovascular reactivity, and subclinical cardiovascular disease in adolescents.
OBJECTIVE
To examine cross-sectional and longitudinal relationships between chronic life stress, cardiovascular reactivity, and a marker of subclinical cardiovascular disease in a multiethnic sample of adolescents.


METHODS
Participants were 158 healthy adolescents who completed self-report measures of chronic negative life stress as well as assessments of heart rate and blood pressure reactivity to acute laboratory stressors at two time points, approximately 3.3 years apart. At Time 2, intima-media thickness (IMT), a measure of subclinical atherosclerosis, was also measured.


RESULTS
In hierarchical regression models adjusting for demographic variables and body mass index, chronic negative life stress at Time 2 was concurrently associated with greater diastolic blood pressure (DBP) reactivity to stress (beta = 0.18, p = .016), but neither chronic stress nor cardiovascular reactivity was associated concurrently with IMT. Increasing life stress from Time 1 to Time 2 was accompanied by increasing cardiovascular reactivity (beta = 0.14-0.20, p < .05), and increasing DBP reactivity over time was also associated with IMT (beta = 0.24, p = .03), although increasing chronic life stress was not directly related to IMT.


CONCLUSIONS
Adolescents exposed to chronic, negative stressors that worsen over time may show heightened cardiovascular reactivity that puts them at risk for subclinical atherosclerosis.
Low
Carissa A
CA
Departments of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. lowca@upmc.edu
Salomon
Kristen
K
Matthews
Karen A
KA
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002319:Cardiovascular System / Q000503:physiopathology; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D017539:Tunica Intima / Q000473:pathology; D014463:Ultrasonography