Article

A tale of two mechanisms: A meta-analytic approach toward understanding the autonomic basis of cardiovascular reactivity to acute psychological stress: Autonomic basis of cardiovascular reactivity

Details

Citation

Brindle RC, Ginty AT, Phillips AC & Carroll D (2014) A tale of two mechanisms: A meta-analytic approach toward understanding the autonomic basis of cardiovascular reactivity to acute psychological stress: Autonomic basis of cardiovascular reactivity. Psychophysiology, 51 (10), pp. 964-976. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.12248

Abstract
A series of meta‐analyses was undertaken to determine the contributions of sympathetic and parasympathetic activation to cardiovascular stress reactivity. A literature search yielded 186 studies of sufficient quality that measured indices of sympathetic (n = 113) and/or parasympathetic activity (n = 73). A range of psychological stressors perturbed blood pressure and heart rate. There were comparable aggregate effects for sympathetic activation, as indexed by increased plasma epinephrine and norepinephrine, and shortened pre‐ejection period and parasympathetic deactivation, as indexed by heart rate variability measures. Effect sizes varied with stress task, sex, and age. In contrast to alpha‐adrenergic blockade, beta‐blockade attenuated cardiovascular reactivity. Cardiovascular reactivity to acute psychological stress would appear to reflect both beta‐adrenergic activation and vagal withdrawal to a largely equal extent.

Keywords
Cardiovascular reactivity; meta-analysis; Parasympathetic; Stress; Sympathetic;

Journal
Psychophysiology: Volume 51, Issue 10

StatusPublished
FundersEconomic and Social Research Council
Publication date31/10/2014
Publication date online13/06/2014
Date accepted by journal05/05/2014
URLhttp://hdl.handle.net/1893/30299
PublisherWiley
ISSN0048-5772
eISSN1469-8986

People (1)

Professor Anna Whittaker

Professor Anna Whittaker

Professor of Behavioural Medicine, Sport