State Anxiety Is Associated with Cardiovascular Reactivity in Young, Healthy African Americans
Year: 2012
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Although several studies have shown that enhanced cardiovascular reactivity can predict hypertension development in African Americans, these findings have not been consistent among all studies examining reactivity and hypertension susceptibility. This inconsistency may be explained by the influence of anxiety (state and trait) on the blood pressure response to stress. Therefore, this study sought to determine whether anxiety is associated with blood pressure response to cold pressor (CP) and anger recall (AR) stress tests in young healthy African Americans. Modeling using state and trait anxiety revealed that state anxiety predicts systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure DBP response to CP and AR (P ≤ 0.02). Interestingly, state anxiety predicted heart rate changes only to CP (P < 0.01; P = 0.3 for AR). Although trait anxiety was associated with SBP response to AR and not CP, it was not a significant predictor of reactivity in our models. We conclude that anxiety levels may contribute to the variable blood pressure response to acute stressors and, therefore, should be assessed when performing cardiovascular reactivity measures.
DOI: 10.1155/2012/268013
Institution: North Carolina Central University
Language: English
Subfield: Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,790
OpenAlex ID: W2033342613