The association between chronic psychosocial stress, allostatic load, and vascular health in asymptomatic young men: A pilot study using a novel finger arterial stiffness index¹

Abstract

A novel index of finger arterial stiffness (FSI) was tested in terms of the relationship with risk markers for preclinical cardiovascular disease. In addition, we examined if the association between psychosocial factors and FSI was explained by allostatic load markers in 37 healthy young men aged 24.8 Ϯ 4.0 years. The FSI was devised based on an exponential model of the finger arterial pressure-volume relationship. The allostatic load index (ALI) as a cumulative risk marker was defined by the mean of standard scores for nine variables: resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure, waist/hip ratio, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), total cholesterol/HDL-C ratio, triglycerides, hemoglobin A1c, insulin resistance, and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (CRP). Partial correlations controlling for age were significant for FSI with HDL-C (r = -.36), CRP (r = .39), ALI (r = .40), unhealthy overall eating habits (r = .34), hostility using the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (r = .38), and manageability in Sense of Coherence (r = -.38). In conclusion, FSI seems to be associated with vascular proinflammation as well as with overall physiological dysregulation and allostatic load. These associations were moderated by eating lifestyle and psychosocial stress.

Gender operationalisation and stress measurement in research with adolescent males: a scoping review

“…Self-evident in name or description that measure is intended for cultural context Korean version of the Coping Style Questionnaire [67]; Arabic version of DASS-42 [51]; Japanese Perceived Stress Scale [46]; Brazilian Portuguese version of the PSS [38] 13 (13.7) Negative Affect Schedule [57], and Chinese version of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) [58]. Table 5 and Table 6 show studies categorised as: (i) no evidence of adapted research design for participants' age or cultural context; (ii) evidence that the process or protocol was designed to accommodate participants' age or cultural context; (iii) the measure used is acknowledged as adapted or intended for the age group or cultural context of participants; (iv) or that is was self-evident in the measure's name or description provided that it is considered appropriate for the age or cultural context of participants.…”

Editorial: Psychobiological approaches to stress and health: Recent progress

“…Hamer and Chida (2011) present data from a general population study that investigates the association between life satisfaction and novel inflammatory markers, which provides some insight into possible mechanisms explaining a link between positive psychology and better health outcomes in the community. Data from Tanaka, Kato, Matsumura, Horiguchi, Ogasawara, and Sawada (2011) build on the established model of allostatic load to show important associations with vascular health in young, healthy participants using a novel finger plethysmography technique. Behavior plays an important role in psychobiology and Okun (2011) highlights an emerging area, describing the immunological and endocrinological consequences of disrupted or disturbed sleep, as well as how these relationships may impact overall health.…”