Assessment of the cardiovascular effects of stress

Abstract

The stress response increases sympathetic nervous activity, which can adversely affect the cardiovascular system. Cardiovascular disease is due in part to stress-induced mechanisms mediated primarily through increased adrenergic stimulation. These stress-induced mechanisms include elevations in serum lipid levels, alterations in blood coagulation, atherogenesis, vascular changes in hypertension, and myocardial ischemia. Stress management interventions for hypertension are controversial; however, interventions for coronary heart disease-prone behavior patterns have proven successful. Stress management interventions have also reduced cardiovascular events, mortality, and coronary atherosclerosis. Assessment of stress includes individual interviews, which can be complemented by information derived from questionnaires and mental stress testing. Educational and relaxation strategies can prepare patients to understand and cope with stress. These approaches will hopefully decrease the occurrence of stress and, ultimately, the risk for cardiovascular disease.

Hatchlings of the Marine Turtle Lepidochelys olivacea Display Signs of Prenatal Stress at Emergence after Being Incubated in Man-Made Nests: A Preliminary Report

“…In mammals, individuals subjected to prenatal stress may develop altered behavior (e.g., aggressiveness, depression; Kapoor and Matthews, 2008;Leigh, 2010), reproductive dysfunction (e.g., infertility; Kapoor and Matthews, 2008), metabolic syndrome (Antti-Jussi et al, 2010), immune depression (Martin, 2009), and even degenerative diseases that affect various organ systems (e.g., cardiovascular) at some point of their lives (Engler, 1995). Prenatal stress also reprograms and imprints gamete genome (Chehreie et al, 2013), thus passing diseased states to the progeny through transgenerational epigenetic inheritance (Jablonka and Raz, 2009;Leigh, 2010;Daxinger and Whitelaw, 2012;Heard and Martienssen, 2014).…”

Vasomotor symptoms in women and cardiovascular risk markers: Systematic review and meta-analysis

“…A possible mechanism linking women with VMS with increased risk of hypertension is a potential up-regulation in sympathetic nervous activity [15,32,42], particularly associated with an increasing age at a higher rate than in men [32,43]. Epinephrine and Nor-epinephrine (NE) secreted from the sympathetic nervous system are possible mediators for various vascular and metabolic abnormalities including hypertension and increased cholesterol levels [44][45][46]. Additionally, VMS are associated with increased catecholaminergic activity and modification in calcitonin related peptide, which on the other hand are associated with increased cardiovascular risk [47,48].…”

The relationship of social support, social networks and negative events with depression in patients with coronary artery disease

“…The importance of these ® ndings is magni® ed by the fact that both depression (Barefoot, 1997;FrasureSmith et al, 1993) and stress have been repeatedly shown to predict mortality (Engler & Engler, 1995;Greenwood et al, 1996). It is possible that stress mediates the relationship between depression and CAD such that it increases survivorship.…”