title: ECG signatures of psychological stress.
abstract: Psychological stress can lead to atrial and ventricular arrhythmias, but the physiological pathways have not been fully elucidated. Signal processing techniques can provide insight into electrophysiological mechanisms of stress-induced arrhythmia. T-wave alternans, as well as other ECG measures of heterogeneity of repolarization, increases with emotional and cognitive stress in the laboratory setting, and may also in "real life" settings. In the atrium, stress impacts components of the signal-averaged ECG. These changes suggest mechanisms by which everyday stressors can lead to arrhythmia.
authors.affiliation: Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA. Electronic address: rachel.lampert@yale.edu.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lampert
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Atrial fibrillation; Psychological stress; Repolarization