Exploring the blood volume amplitude and pulse transit time during anger recall in patients with coronary artery disease.
OBJECTIVE
One psychopathological mechanism that links anger to coronary artery disease (CAD) is cardiac autonomic imbalance. Blood volume amplitude (BVA) and pulse transit time (PTT) are related to peripheral arterial elasticity and cardiac conduction, which are used as indirect markers for autonomic activation. The purposes of this study were to examine the relationships between BVA and PTT, and the reactivity of BVA and PTT during the anger recall task in patients with CAD.


METHODS
A total of 112 patients with CAD and 93 healthy controls were recruited; BVA and PTT were collected during baseline, the neutral episode, the anger episode, and after recovery.


RESULTS
There were significant positive correlations between BVA and PTT in all participants. BVA reactivity during the anger episode was greater in patients with CAD than in healthy controls, and there were also lower BVA recovery values after the neutral and anger episodes. However, there was no significant difference in BVA reactivity between the two groups in the neutral episode. PTT recovered to baseline levels after the neutral and anger episodes in healthy controls, but not in the patients with CAD.


CONCLUSIONS
BVA and PTT were associated with peripheral vascular elasticity and cardiac conduction that were regulated by the cardiac autonomic system. Peripheral vasoconstriction and changes in travel time between left ventricular and peripheral vasculature during the anger episode, and impaired recovery to baseline levels may relate to the psychopathological mechanisms of CAD.
Department of Psychology, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan. Electronic address: psyiml@kmu.edu.tw.
I-Mei
IM
Lin
Institute of Gerontology, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan.
Sheng-Yu
SY
Fan
Division of Cardiology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, 807, Taiwan.
Ye-Hsu
YH
Lu
Division of Cardiology, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, 807, Taiwan.
Chee-Siong
CS
Lee
Department of Preventive Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, 807, Taiwan.
Kuan-Ta
KT
Wu
Department of Psychology, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan.
Hui-Jing
HJ
Ji
D000368:Aged; D000786:Anger / Q000502:physiology*; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000503:physiopathology; D001810:Blood Volume; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D004548:Elasticity; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000294:innervation; D006329:Heart Conduction System / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D063177:Pulse Wave Analysis
Anger recall; Blood volume amplitude; Coronary artery disease; Pulse transit time