Psychosocial and behavioral influences in the pathogenesis of acquired cardiovascular disease

Social stress and atherosclerosis in roosters

1. Socially stressed roosters fed either plain mash or an atherogenic diet had a greater incidence and severity of aortic atherogenesis than similarly fed non-stressed birds. 2. Results demonstrated a significant atherogenic effect of stress in chickens even in the absence of hyperlipidaemia. 3. Lack of appreciable differences in plasma lipids between stressed and non-stressed birds suggested that the atherogenic effects of stress may be attributable to neuroendocrine responses. 4. Levels of HDLc of plain mash groups were significantly higher than in the atherogenic fed groups. 5. Haemodynamic data showed no treatment-related differences.

The link between stress and illness. Do our coping methods influence our health?

Stress is an important fact of everyday life that can have a major effect on emotional and physical well-being. Stress is best defined as the adaptation response by the body to a stressor (ie, the perceived stimulus). Psychoneuroimmunology is the study of the ways in which psychosocial interactions cause neuroendocrine responses and, at times, physical changes. An increasing body of evidence suggests a causative role for acute and chronic stress in many medical disorders and psychiatric states. Methods of measuring and assessing stress factors need to also evaluate patients' coping and adaptive mechanisms.

Effects of propranolol, atenolol, and chlordesmethyldiazepam on response to mental stress in patients with recent myocardial infarction

Stress testing was carried out by two stressors, mental arithmetic and Sacks-Levy's test in randomized sequence, in 64 male patients with a mean age of 51 +/- 7 years in NYHA Classes I or II within 3 months after acute myocardial infarction. The stress profile was obtained after drug withdrawal by continuous recording of electrocardiogram, frontal electromyogram, and peripheral skin temperature and conductance. Blood pressure was measured each minute by cuff. The patients were subdivided into 4 groups of 16 each and were studied in an identical fashion after a 48-h oral treatment with propranolol 120 mg daily, atenolol 100 mg daily, chlordesmethyldiazepam 2 mg daily, or placebo. During stress, signs of myocardial ischemia or pump failure were not observed; minor arrhythmias were recorded. Cardiovascular activation was observed with significant increments (p less than 0.001) in heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressures in all 4 groups for both stressors with a slightly greater effect of mental arithmetic; Sacks' test was more effective on the frontal electromyograph response. Following beta blockade the stress profile of heart rate was significantly lower and flattened. The stress profile of blood pressure was also lower, but the reduction in the increment during stress was not significant. No differences were observed in the effects of the two beta blockers; no significant changes were evident in the stress profile of the noncardiovascular psychophysiologic indexes. Stress profiles were not altered by the benzodiazepine. In conclusion beta-blocker agents seem to be more useful than anxiolytic drugs in preventing cardiovascular activation induced by mental stress in patients with recent myocardial infarction.

The study of stress and disease: some developments and requirements

This article considers the study of stress in relation to the onset, course, and outcomes of disease, and is divided into three parts. The first part describes the relationships between personality, environmental stressors, and disease. The second focuses specifically on the requirements that must be fulfilled to allow for the conclusion that there is a relationship between stress and the onset of disease. Finally, in the third part models describing the relationship between stress and the course of disease or medical outcome are presented and discussed.

Role of emotions and stress in the genesis of sudden death

Emotional arousal induces dramatic endocrine responses through either the sympathetic-adrenal medullary system or pituitary-adrenal cortical system. Many of the known actions of cortisol and catecholamines are atherogenic, cardiotoxic and arrhythmogenic. Emotional stress can produce sudden cardiac death in experimental animals, as can the administration of exogenous catecholamines. Previous studies have found that emotional stress is a common precursor to sudden cardiac death. Thus, acute neuroendocrine arousal, superimposed on a substrate of compromised myocardium and electrical instability, may constitute an important, final inciting event in sudden cardiac death.

Relationship of psychologic factors to frequent symptomatic ventricular arrhythmia

Since there is very little available systematic information on the psychological profile of patients with cardiac arrhythmia, a battery of 12 standardized personality inventories was administered to 102 patients ranging in age from 19 to 69 years. Thirty-eight patients with frequent ventricular premature beats (more than 30 per hour) without myocardial infarction were significantly more psychologically symptomatic than 34 age- and sex-matched general medical/surgical patients. The variables found to be significant portray the patient with frequent ventricular premature beats without myocardial infarction: high scores for hysteria, less moral orientation, more anxiety, depression and social alienation, and an inhibited and low respectful style. This combination of psychological variables produced a discriminant function (p less than 0.001) that accounted for 53 percent of the variance between the arrhythmia/no myocardial infarction group and the medical/surgical control group and could correctly predict group membership in 83.3 percent of cases. These results may have further implications in nonpharmacologic and psychotropic adjuncts to antiarrhythmic therapy.

Laboratory animal technicians. Their role in stress reduction and human-companion animal bonding

The physical and emotional well-being of laboratory animals is often dependent upon the knowledge and ability of the responsible technician. Management has the obligation to place only technicians who are well-trained, compassionate, and highly motivated in responsible positions of animal care and to recognize the legitimacy of, and strongly support, the emotional and behavioral needs of both technicians and animals.

Effects of social support in the stressor-strain relationship: a Dutch sample

Social support may be defined as the social ties an individual has, and which lead the subject to believe that he is cared for. The present study describes research on the hypothesis that social support protects the person against the noxious effects of job stress and will keep the strain and health effects low. A short review of relevant literature is given and 6 hypotheses about the role of support are tested; 3 about the interactive effects and 3 about the main effects. The study resembles the work of LaRocco, House and French, although there are some differences. Like these authors, a moderated regression technique was used on data from a sample of 1246 employees of 13 different industrial organizations. The analysis shows that social support buffers the impact of work-related stressors on psychological and behavioral strains but that there is no such a buffering effect on health strains. A very striking result was the strong buffering effect against employee's high blood pressure (SBP and DBP), of the supervisor giving support in the case of psychological problems.